Plot

In a literary work, film, story, or narrative, the plot is the sequence of events where each affects the next one through the principle of cause-and-effect. The causal events of the plot can be thought of as a series of events linked by the connector "and so." Plots can vary from the simple--such as in a traditional ballad--to forming complex interwoven structure, with each part sometimes referred to as subplot or imbroglio. In common usage, however, it can mean a narrative summary or story synopsis, rather than a specific cause-and-effect sequence.

Plot is similar in meaning to the term storyline. In the narrative sense, the term highlights important points which have consequences within the story, according to Ansel Dibell. The term plot can also serve as a verb, referring to a character planning future actions in the story.

English novelist E.M. Forster described plot as the cause-and-effect relationship between events in the story. According to Forster, the statement "the king died, and then the queen died" is a story while "the king died, and then the queen died of grief" is a plot.

Teri Shaffer Yamada agrees that a plot does not include memorable scenes within a story which do not relate directly to other events but "only major events that move the action in a narrative." For example, in the 1997 film Titanic, when Rose climbs on the railing at the front of the ship and spreads her hands as if she's flying, this scene is memorable but does not directly influence other events, so it may not be considered as part of the plot. Another example of a memorable scene which is not part of the plot occurs in the 1980 film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back when Han Solo is frozen in Carbonite.

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