Ex. If Harry lets Lord Voldemort come back without a fight, the fate of the magic world could be at risk.
Ex. If Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire don't outsmart Count Olaf then their fortunes and their lives might be at risk.
Most inexperienced writers spend so much time thinking about the setting, the scenery and the color of their characters hair that they forget that the plot is what editors and their audience is looking for.
Hogwarts is a wonderful school. But who would care about it without Harry Potter and his friends.
The castle in Sleeping Beauty would just be another castle in the middle of nowhere without the princess and her prince.
And the three little pigs houses could have been made of snow, cotton or peanuts for all we would care without three clever little pigs and a wolf.