Plot is the sequence of events in a story, arranged to create cause-and-effect relationships and to generate interest. It is the architecture of what happens.

A conventional plot moves from exposition through rising action to climax, then falling action and resolution. Conflicts drive the movement; decisions and discoveries change the direction. Not every story follows the same shape—some are episodic, some circular, some deliberately anti-climactic—yet readers still look for pattern and consequence. Plot differs from story in the Russian Formalist sense: story is the chronological events, plot is the particular order and emphasis given to them.

Strong plots balance surprise with inevitability. Weak plots feel either random or mechanically predictable. Writers build plot through the interplay of character desire, obstacle, and change. The best plots feel as if they grow from the characters rather than being imposed upon them.

The designed chain of events that carries a narrative from beginning to end is its plot.