Russian formalists, such as Propp, used the terms fabula and siuzhet for the plot. The way Belknap defines then the fabula arranges the events in the world the characters inhabit, while the siuzhet arranges the events in the world the audience encounters in the film/text. The following graphic comes from wikipedia's entry on fabula:
Another chapter of the book discusses incidents in the story. He explains how they can only be related to another chronologically, spatially, causually, associatively, or narratively. The TV series Upstairs Downstairs is an example of where a spatial organization was often used.
His book has lots of great insights. The following (which is the title of one of the chapters in the book) is especially nice:
I'm going to keep this short. If you like these short snippets from his book given here, check out the book at your local library.
