How does conflict affect plot?

Conflict is a fight or a problem. So depending how the conflict gets started, it will most likely help lay out the plot.

The conflict is what opposes the characters in the plot. Without some sort of conflict, the plot will be boring and nobody will want to read the story.
Plot is the structural progression of a story that resolves all conflict within at the end.Conflicts can be psychological or structural by the forces that form the plot.Conflicts make the plot unity a de-structured form.