Spineless

I've been giving some thought to this past time of mine.  I was hoping to spend some time today cleaning up my first chapter (again).  I know I've got some things in it that are not believable.  I know it could possibly pass as actually happening but I don't know that I would ever believe it would happen the way I wrote it at this point.  If I can't convince myself, how do I expect others to believe it?  So, my plan for today was to go back and change it up to make it more realistic.  There are a ton of flaws that need to be straightened out in my fiction.
As today went on, I kept putting it off.  It isn't as if I didn't want to work on it.  I don't mind the work.  It's actually something I actually like to work on.  I know that isn't the part that I have a problem with.  I believe my problem is that I have a story but that's all it is.  It's just a story and that isn't enough.  I thought I had this theme and purpose for the story when I started out but once I wrote it up it got lost somewhere.  Or worse, it never existed, or I was just hoping it would show up, or it's so obscure it's undetectable.  It isn't there.  And I can fix and re-write and make chapters more believable all day long and it won't make it any better.  Well, it will make the chapter better (written) but the story will still be just a story.  It will still be spineless and flimsy. 
I might need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what I was thinking.  What is it missing that should be holding it together? 
I might need a longer break. 
TT