What Are Plot and Setting?
Feature Menu
Plot
Subplots
Parallel Episodes
Setting as Background
Setting as Conflict
Setting: Mood
Your Turn
Plot
Plot is the chain of related events that tells you
what happens in a story.
EVENT 1
Jen challenges Rick
to a bike race.
Bet I can ride
Diamondback
Trail faster
than you can!
Bet you
can’t!
What do you think
happens next?
EVENT 2
Jen and Rick
meet on the trail.
Plot
How are the two events linked together?
EVENT 1
Jen challenges Rick
to a bike race.
EVENT 2
Jen and Rick
meet on the trail.
cause/effect
Like links in a chain, each event “hooks” our
curiosity and pulls us forward to the next event.
Plot: Exposition
The story’s exposition introduces characters,
settings, and the story’s basic conflict.
EVENT 1
Jen challenges Rick
to a bike race.
Should he try to
impress Jen by OR
accepting her
challenge?
Jen’s challenge
presents a problem
to Rick:
Should he avoid
defeat or losing her
friendship by
choosing not to race?
Plot: Rising Action
The story’s rising action describes the series of
conflicts faced by the main character. Those
conflicts may include
forces of
nature, such as
gravity or
strong head
winds,
or a character’s own feelings.
Plot: Rising Action
What if we add more events to the chain?
EVENT 1
Jen challenges Rick
to a bike race.
EVENT 2
EVENT 3
Jen and Rick
meet on the
trail.
Rick’s bike
chain slips off.
Event 3 has made the plot chain more complicated.
The outcome of the race is no longer
a matter of who can bike faster.
Plot: Rising Action
If Rick can’t repair his chain quickly, he will lose
the race.
If Jen rides off
and leaves Rick
stranded, she may
win the race but
lose Rick’s
friendship.
EVENT 3
Rick’s chain
slips off.
Event 3 is called a complication because it makes
the plot’s conflict more difficult to resolve.
Plot: Rising Action
What other complications might Rick or Jen face?
EVENT 1
Jen challenges Rick
to a bike race.
EVENT 2
EVENT 3
Jen and Rick
race.
??????
What would make the story interesting, exciting, or
suspenseful?
Plot: Climax
A story’s climax is the point at which the outcome
of the conflict is decided—often in a surprising way.
Rick’s chain is off his bike.
Jen is circling back to check on him.
Suddenly, Rick remembers what
he learned from his Uncle
Eduardo:
1. how to replace a slipped chain
2. how to impress a girl
Plot: Climax
Where does a story’s climax fit into the plot chain?
The story reaches its climax when the obstacles
created by complications are overcome.
The climax makes the ending possible.
Plot: Resolution
The resolution is the end of the story. It tells how
the conflict turned out.
How was the conflict in
this story resolved?
Neither Jen nor Rick won
the race, but . . .
they took many more
bike rides together.
[End of Section]
Plot
Quick Check
Paul packed his last pair of jeans in his
duffel bag and carried it out to the car.
It was time to leave for college. His
mom and dad—and Miranda—were
waiting with sad smiles on their faces.
Paul placed his lucky bottle cap in
Miranda’s hand and climbed into the
car after saying goodbye.
Where in the plot
would this scene
occur?
He was surprised to find a little box on
the seat next to him. Inside it, on a
cushion of cotton balls, was Miranda’s
lucky letter charm—M for miracles.
• resolution
• exposition
• rising action
• climax
[End of Section]
Plot: Subplots
In addition to the main plot, some stories have
subplots.
Main
plot
Subplot
Rick
tries little
to
Rick
thinks
impress
Jen by
of his uncle’s
agreeing
to a Rick
bike
advice—until
findsrace.
that he
really can use it.
A subplot is a minor plot that is part of the larger
story but not as important.
Plot: Parallel Episodes
Some plots contain parallel episodes: repeated
events in a story.
Episode 1
Episode 2
Rick’s chain
slips off.
Rick’s front tire
goes flat.
Rick replaces
the chain, and
the race
continues.
Rick patches
the tire, and
the race
continues.
Episode 3
Jen’s brake
cable snaps.
Rick invites Jen
to his uncle’s
bike-repair shop.
Setting: Setting as Background
Setting provides a background—a time period and
place in which the action occurs.
Setting: Setting as Background
Writers carefully select images and details to
create a setting that draws us into the story.
• sight
• taste
• hearing
the steady beat
of the drum
three hot-air balloons
colored the sky
the tart apple
Setting: Setting as Background
Writers carefully select images and details to
create a setting that draws us into the story.
• touch
gritty, wet sand
between her toes
• smell
strong, sweet
scent of a rose
Setting: Setting as Background
Settings can include
the location of a story.
Hong Kong
Setting: Setting as Background
Settings may also include
• weather
• time of day
• time period
(past, present,
or future)
• social customs
Setting: Setting as Background
Quick Check
She looked across the sea of people
as she made her way through the
crowd.
The busy waterfront bustled with
families eager to enjoy a day at the
coast. Bouncing beach balls and
colorful towels dotted the sunny
boardwalk.
Which words in
the passage help
you imagine
where the scene
takes place?
[End of Section]
Setting: Setting as Conflict
Sometimes settings are central to a story’s main
conflict:
The setting may
present a character
with his or her main
conflict.
Setting: Setting as Conflict
Quick Check
Soon-yi stared at the table. Her
grandmother had decorated it
carefully, taking great delight in the
ancient green tea ceremony.
In the center of the table sat the
steaming pot of tea, surrounded by
delicate cups and saucers the color of
pale green jade.
Everything was unfamiliar, alien to
Soon-yi’s sense of what an American
meal should be.
Which words that
describe the
setting help
illustrate Soon-yi’s
internal conflict?
[End of Section]
Setting: Mood
Mood is the overall atmosphere or effect of a work
of literature.
A writer’s word choice and the story’s setting often
create mood.
balmy
foggy
stark
Setting: Mood
What adjectives might you use to describe each of
the moods illustrated below?
dark, foggy
peaceful
mysterious
warm
breezes
ice and
snow
menacing
Setting: Mood
Quick Check
At the most remote end of the crypt
there appeared another less
spacious. Its walls had been lined
with human remains, piled to the
vault overhead, in the fashion of the
great catacombs of Paris. Three
sides of this interior crypt were still
ornamented in this manner.
What mood is
created by the
details of this
setting?
from “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan
Poe
[End of Section]
Analyze Plot and Setting
Your Turn
Choose a familiar story. It can
be from a book, a TV show, or
a movie.
• Use a story map like this one.
• Describe the key parts of the
story’s plot.
•Make note of any parallel
episodes and instances in
which the setting affects the
plot.
•Create a new chart for any
subplots.
The End