Good stories start with conflict.

Example: In the first Star Wars movie, Luke leaves his home planet only after his Aunt and Uncle is killed by the Empire.

Conflict throws a character into a situation that they are not too familiar with.

Example: In the Matrix Neo has to change the way he thinks about reality in order to save Morpheus and the others.

The key here is Conflict starts when something or someone interferes with the way the character believes the world should be.

As soon as a character is introduced to something or someone that threatens to change the way he behaves, two things happen:

1. They try to adapt by using the same behavior that they've accustomed to and they fail.

2. They resist change. they fight to the bitter end until they realize they have been fighting against themselves(failed).

The end result is that character has to change their behavior so much so that they've grown as a person. This is where you get those sappy endings in t.v shows where the characters are supposed to learn a valuable lesson. We want to a character go through change painfully because people are hardheaded. We have thick skulls, we think we know better but we don't know squat.

Do you remember a time when someone was trying to explain on how to do something but you thought that you knew what were you were doing? So you fell flat on your face or was humiliated? I think that's where the term numskull comes from. Numskullery makes great entertainment.