As with the thematic perspectives we have already explored, plot thematics are also story points. What sets these apart is that they do not fall in any single throughline. In fact, they are scattered among all four throughlines. This is because these plot story points represent the collective impact of all four throughlines combined. So, when we speak of Goal, we are not talking about one throughline's goal. Rather, we are referring to the Story Goal, which draws from and impacts all four throughlines.

The story-wide effects of plot story points are clear. The Main Character, Impact Character, and Overall Story Characters are all caught up in the ripples caused by the quest for the Story Goal. The nature of the goal and the effort to achieve it even impacts the Subjective Story Throughline.

There are eight Plot Story Points that stand at the center of all four throughlines. They are the story Goal, Requirements, Consequences, Forewarnings, Dividends, Costs, Prerequisites, and Preconditions. All of these story points are at the Type level of the Thematic Structure.

In stories that reflect Western culture--particularly in American culture--the Story Goal is traditionally in the Overall Story Throughline. This results in a story in which the Goal concerns all the Overall Story Characters. The Goal, however, might just as well be in the Main Character Throughline, or either of the other two throughlines. In such a story, the overall Goal could be whatever the Main Character was hoping for or working toward, regardless of what was of concern to the Overall Story Characters.

In fact, it is the Concerns in each throughline that might also double up as the Story Goal. This ties all four throughlines' Concerns together into the issues central to the story as a whole. The relationship among the eight plot story points remains the same no matter which throughline serves as their anchor point. Therefore, we shall describe the nature of the eight Plot Story Points as they appear when the Story Goal is also the Overall Story Throughline Concern. For other perspectives, one merely needs to shift into a different point of view, such as that of the Main Character. The story points themselves would remain the same; only what they are applied to would change.