Inciting Event: After Bond brings in a man for questioning, M’s long-time bodyguard proves to be a mole and tries to kill M. Even though the opening car chase is obviously jammed with conflict, this is the first moment when Bond is confronted with the main conflict against the pervasive but unnamed enemy organization.

First Plot Point: Bond meets and saves the young Russian woman Camille, who in turn takes him to Dominic Greene, who is buying up land in South America and who seems to be at the heart of the enemy organization. The “new world” of the Second Act, which Bond enters here, is a subtle one, but we know it is the entrance to the Second Act, since this is the turning point that brings him face to face with the main conflict via the main antagonist.

First Pinch Point: At the opera, Bond listens in as Greene communicates with the other members of the organization. He hears their grand plan. In contributing to the death of a Special Branch member, he also contributes to M’s growing frustration and distrust in his methods—which will come to a head later. In essence, he’s pinched on all sides here.

Midpoint: After being ordered home by M, Bond goes off the rails and continues the investigation on his own. He connects with one-time enemy and retired agent Mathis. Together, they travel to Bolivia, where they are “arrested” by office agent Strawberry Fields, whom Bond more or less co-opts for his own purposes. Here we see a shift, both in location and direction (as Bond begins taking the fight to Greene, rather than chasing after him), as well as in mindset, since Bond is no longer technically working for MI6.

Second Pinch Point: After confronting Greene at a party and reconnecting with Camille, whom he rescues, Bond discovers Mathis wounded in the back of his SUV. The Bolivian police accidentally kill Mathis. Bond subsequently kills both of them.

Third Plot Point: After a lengthy and dangerous adventure out in the desert with Camille, Bond returns to the hotel to discover M waiting for him. He learns Greene has brutally killed Fields. M suspends Bond and, when he escapes, warns him there’s a “kill or capture” order out on him. Although Mathis’s previous death was more personal, this turning point hits Bond on a number of personal levels: Fields’s death harks back to his love Vesper’s death in the previous movie, his life is in imminent danger, and he’s been essentially abandoned by his own people.

Climax: Bond and Camille infiltrate the Bolivian general’s compound—where Greene is currently working a deal to make the general the new president of the country. Their entrance into the compound is also their entrance into the arena of their final confrontation with the antagonists.

Climactic Moment: After disabling Greene, Bond and Camille’s conflict continues, since they’re both in danger of burning to death inside the compound. The Climactic Moment arrives when Bond blows up a wall and allows them to escape to safety.

Resolution: Bond confronts Vesper’s traitorous former boyfriend and, instead of killing him, turns him over to M.