In modern works, the conflict, contest, or struggle, is likely to involve the natural world or aspects of the main character's personality. It is the contest, the conflict, the struggle of the plot. If that sentence contains a being verb or a verb in the passive voice, the odds are good that you are not expressing the conflict of your plot, but are stating the situation. I C T Situations Conflicts Tom is an alcoholic. Tom's mother struggles to get him to confront his alcoholism.
Mosquitoes bite people.
A housewife combats neighbors' apathy to eliminate mosquito breeding areas. Clerks in a store are New manger confronts the bad surly and rude attitudes of the sales staff. Children are abused in A clerk in the welfare office searches an orphanage. Chinatown also provides a good example of the difference between situation and conflict. The situation is that a private detective begins looking into an apparent case of marital infidelity.