subplot

Etymology

sub- + plot

noun

1. A plot within a story, subsidiary to the main plot.
   1978, R.B. Lee & R. Misiorowski, Script Models: A Handbook for the Media Writer, Subplot, a story line enclosed within the principal story to provide relief from the main plot's tension, add character dimension, etc.
   Structurally, the two most variant scenes (outside of Scene ii) are Scenes 3 and 4 in which the compiler works out the variant subplot. 1998, Stephen Roy Miller, The Taming of a Shrew: the 1594 quarto
   In a sense, Superman's romance with Lois Lane was a subplot and … 2001, Dennis O'Neil, The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics
   2001, Nancy Arbuthnot Johnson, Vic Neufield, Forging Links for Health Research, But this story has a subplot — a subplot about fairness and how people have divergent levels of access to knowledge and resources.
2. A subdivision of a plot of land, especially one used for an agricultural experiment.
   … on sixteen 8/10-acre plots (12.8 acres) well distributed over the area. … A 1/160-acre subplot was established in a randomly chosen corner of each … 1996, The American Midland Naturalist, the University of Notre Dame
   1999, E. K. Sadanandan Nambiar, Christian Cossalter, Site Management and Productivity in Tropical Plantation Forest, There are 72 trees in each plot (6x12) and 36 trees in each subplot.
   2002, M. Boya Edwards, Proceedings for the Eight Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference, Hardwood and shrub stems (besides gallberry) were counted by species and measured for total height (if greater than 2 ft) on 3 strip plots per subplot that were 0.01 acre […]

verb

1. (transitive) To provide (a story) with a subplot.
   In the pictures of places, too, an author uses economy; and for his plot, complicated and subplotted as it may seem, he cannot count on having vast stretches of eternity in which to elaborate forever. 1965, Percival Hunt, The Gift of the Unicorn: Essays on Writing, page 70