Falling action is the sequence of events that follows the climax and leads toward the resolution. The intense conflict has peaked; now the consequences unfold.

In the falling action, loose ends begin to be tied up, the implications of the climax become clear, and the story moves from crisis toward a new stability—or toward a final recognition that stability is impossible. The pace often slows relative to the rising action and climax. Readers or spectators process what has happened and prepare for the denouement.

If the falling action is too prolonged, the narrative can lose energy; if it is too abrupt, the climax may feel unearned or the resolution unsatisfying. Its length and tone depend on the genre and the emotional afterlife of the central conflict. In some modern works the falling action is minimal, the story ending almost at the moment of climax.

The stretch of story that deals with the aftermath of the decisive confrontation is the falling action.