subplot

/ˈsʌbplɑt/

A secondary story in a book or movie, rather than the central narrative, is its subplot. Romeo and Juliet focuses on the main characters' love, but one of its many subplots is the rivalry between Mercutio and Tybalt.

You can think of a subplot as a side story, something that seems a bit less important than the main plot but usually ties into it in some way. Almost all fiction has at least one subplot, from Inigo Montoya's desire for revenge in The Princess Bride to the comedic interactions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Shakespeare's Hamlet. This literary term adds the prefix sub-, "under" or "smaller," to plot, "the main events of a story."

Definitions of subplot

1. noun

   a subordinate or secondary plot in a work of fiction
   type of:

   plot

   the story that is told as in a novel, play, movie, etc.