Inciting Event: Will Reynolds refuses to continue working as an assassin for the East India company, resulting in his attempted murder. He assumes the identity of a vicar and is rescued from his wounds by a wealthy young woman named Charlotte.
First Plot Point: He agrees to meet Charlotte’s uncle, so he can earn his approval, only to find out that her uncle is the head of the East India Company. After a harrowing escape from Charlotte’s uncle, Will is determined to prove to her that he’s a changed man and sets out to Philadelphia.
First Pinch Point: In Philadelphia, Will learns the East India Company is inciting chaos, burning patriot shops, using explosive devices based on one of Benjamin Franklin’s inventions.
Midpoint: Will becomes “the Highwayman,” a masked man who protects the patriots and fights the East India Company.
Second Pinch Point: In his attempt to thwart a plotted assassination of George Washington, he is framed and captured, sentenced to be hanged at dawn.
Third Plot Point: Charlotte discovers her uncle’s plan to bomb the entire city, which would effectively stop the signing of the Declaration on Independence.
Climax: Charlotte is kidnapped by her uncle while Will finds barrels of gunpowder hidden beneath the floor of the building where Congress meets.
Climactic Moment: Will rescues Charlotte. Just as her uncle lunges towards him, Will steps out of the way, causing her uncle to fall onto a piece of electrical equipment, electrocuting himself.
Resolution: For his crimes committed when he was a mercenary, Will is loaded into a barred carriage. Charlotte goes with him. He proposes to her and Charlotte accepts. In the carriage, he finds a note from Benjamin Franklin saying that he’s not being taken to prison but to Franklin’s home.
(Submitted by Elizabeth Newsome, edited by K.M. Weiland.)