I think the main plot element is exposition, which describes the story's characters. I'm not absolutely sure, though, so don't take my word as gospel! :)
In this summary of a passage from "The First Seyen Years" by Bernard Malamud, the main plot element is exposition. The summary describes the story's characters.
A story has different plot elements: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution.<u> The exposition </u>is the element of the story that <u>introduces the basic characters and setting to the readers in order to catch their attention</u>. Moreover, the conflict of a story is sometimes hinted at the introduction. In this summary of a passage from "The First Seven Years",<u> the main plot element is exposition because it introduces the different characters that are part of the story: Feld, Sobel, Miriam and Max</u>.
