A study determined whether instruction on story elements within rich contexts can increase students' understanding of the characters' traits and motives, their comprehension of stories, and their ability to write causally coherent stories. Instruction was organized around an "anchor" (a story rich with embedded information presented on videodisk). For each of 2 school years, two different classes of fifth grade students were selected. One class was designated as at risk for academic failure, and the other class had a high proportion of average achievers from middle-class families. Students in each of the classes were randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. During the first year of the project, instruction occurred during three 1-hour periods each week for 6 weeks. In the second year, students received instruction for two 2-hour periods per week for 7 months, reading texts which targeted different story elements. The films "Young Sherlock Holmes" and "Oliver Twist" were used as "anchors." Pre- and posttests consisting of an analysis of story elements were administered. Results indicated: (1) subjects in the experimental groups were provided with a broader and more detailed understanding of the properties of a good story; (2) the study of story elements in the macrocontext of the films on videodisk enhanced students' integrated knowledge structures, as evidenced by the students' ability to comprehend and generate causally coherent structures within stories; and (3) macrocontext instruction was especially effective for at-risk students. (Five tables and one figure of data are included; 19 references are attached.) (RS)