In fiction, a plot point is a story event that spins the action around in a new, unexpected direction. Plot points serve to keep the action moving forward and the story fresh.

In the example of a 120-page screenplay, the story will contain many minor and major plot points throughout. The first major plot point occurs three to ten minutes into the story. This event shakes up the status quo and sets up the action for ACT I. Near the end of ACT I, a second, more dramatic plot point occurs, turning events around to set up the main conflict for ACT II. Another major plot point occurs at the halfway mark of ACT II, and again towards the end of ACT II, spilling us head first into the story’s climax. Each major plot point should be more dramatic than the previous one, raising the stakes even higher for the hero or heroine.

A good screenplay will have minor plot points sprinkled throughout the story, occurring a minimum of every ten minutes or so. Without these changes of direction, the story would drag between the main plot points. The turn of events must also be causal, however. If a plot point seems to come out of nowhere and makes no sense, feels contrived or is too convenient, the story is weakened. A turn of events should ideally catch us by surprise, and yet make sense in afterthought.

One tightly plotted thriller that exemplifies excellent use of plot points to keep a story fresh and moving is the 1997 blockbuster, Air Force One starring Harrison Ford as President James Marshall, and Gary Oldman as Russian terrorist Ivan Korshunov.

The film starts off with a tense but successful special ops mission to capture General Ivan Radek, a Russian terrorist. Presidential Marshall, on a Russian diplomatic mission, announces that the U.S. will no longer negotiate with terrorists under any circumstances. Oldman’s character and a small band of terrorists, intending to free Radek, pose as reporters to board Air Force One for the trip back to the States. The President and his family also board. The terrorists are discovered as Air Force One is taking off, speeding down the runway. The pilot tries to avert but is killed and replaced by a terrorist that re-attempts lift off. Rapidly running out of tarmac and heading for a fast-approaching hangar, Air Force One thrusts into the sky at the last possible second.

Each plot point in ACT I of this movie is highly effective in moving us forward, creating tension, and holding our interest by spinning the action in new directions. We feel danger in the opening scene, safe after the President’s speech, and threatened by the terrorists boarding the Presidential jet. When the terrorists take action, the balance of power teeters back and forth as the jet burns up runway. We are literally hurtled into the main conflict of ACT II by the main plot point at the end of ACT I: the terrorists successfully lifting Air Force One off by the skin of their teeth.

Although an average audience member might not know what a plot point is by definition, years of watching movies has conditioned viewers to expect tension to rise overall until the climax where it explodes in the most affecting scene of all. Air Force One starts off with a bang, setting viewers up for expectations of even more action and tension, which the movie deftly delivers.

The next time you find yourself at the theater and events take a quirky, surprising, unexpected, dreadful or victorious turn, you’ve just enjoyed a plot point. If, on the other hand, you’re trying to stay awake through a story that seems to drag on and get nowhere, you’re likely experiencing a story with too few plot points or plot points that are too weak.