Story Roots

• Somebody leaves.
• Somebody arrives.
• Somebody meets someone else.
• Something is lost.
• Something is gained.
• A secret is discovered.
• A secret is hidden.

These are very broad concepts: for example, 'somebody leaves' includes journeys, escapes, death, and so on.  Every love story, at bottom, is 'somebody meets someone else.'

Story occurs when two or more of these roots are joined together, it seems to me.