The Gift of the Magi is about a poor young couple. The woman, Della, has very long thick hair, which is to her knees.(which her husband, Jim, loves) But, its Christmas and she only has $1.87 with which to buy a present for him. So she sells her hair for 20 bucks to buy Jim a present. Della ends up getting him an elegant chain to keep his beautiful pocket watch on. Meanwhile, Jim had sold his pocketwatch to buy Della a beautiful set of pearl combs for her long hair. They figure it out the next morning when they give each other their gifts.
The conflict starts with Della fretting about what to buy Jim, and continues till the end when they figure out the "surprise." There is internal conflict in Della about whether or not to sell her hair. There is also minor conflict at the end when they discover their mistake.
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Good, good story. This is a very good example of the use of irony to pack a punch. O'Henry is famous for these kinds of surprise endings.
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