Atonement Novel: Plot Summary

In 1935 with the question and worry of a second war hanging over the world, a smaller tragedy begins to unravel. On the hottest day of the year in 1935, the main character and mastermind of the whole story, 13 year old Briony Tallis sees something that she misunderstands and misinterprets. Her older sister Cecilia Tallis is seen through a far away window strip down her clothes and jump into the fountain in the garden of their English country house, while Robbie Turner stands by to watch; from then the whole story begins to quickly unravel. After the two young friends realize that they actually have romantic feelings for one another they begin to physically react, and Briony also witnesses this; she then accuses the long time family friend of Rape.
In the next part of the novel the story then carries on to take place five years later, during the second world war. After spending time in jail Robbie is placed into the war, Cecilia is now a nurse, and Briony is training to become a nurse. In this section of the novel a different side of Briony is revealed, she is filled with guilt after realizing that she falsely accused Robbie, and now she is trying to make up for her actions. To relieve her guilt she is training to be a nurse, and through letters trying to contact her sister and Robbie to fix the mess she created.
The last part of the novel jumps far ahead to the year 2001, and Briony is now 77. She is now an established author and she has just written a novel titled "Atonment". The story "Atonement" is the story in our novel. Here it is revealed that the whole story in part two is in fact a made up version of Briony's life. In reality it goes unknown what actually happened to Robbie and Cecilia's relationship. Cecilia drowned in the flood, and Robbie dies in the war from an illness. Briony's character gives her sister and lover the happy ending they never got to have.
This story is a story inside another story.