One way to come up with an interesting plot is to reinterpret something that already has worked. Of course this has been done many times with modern interpretations of Shakespeare’s plays, the works of Jane Austen, and soon a version of Moby Dick in which the whale is a spaceship! And let’s not forget the books that added zombies to Jane Austen’s genteel world (actually, let's forget those).
I'm not talking about plagiarism, I'm talking about finding a structure that has stood the test of time, and a universal situation. I've done this very loosely with something I'm writing in which a patriarch calls together his family because he's dying. Yes, there are elements of King Lear--although of course you don't want to follow Shakespeare's structure too closely, it tends to wander.
Here’s another example (he reveals his source right at the end of this short clip):
