As others have noted, a clear set of plot points drives the action in this novel. As the story opens, Montag believes himself contented with his life. He enjoys watching things burn, which makes his career as a book-burning firefighter satisfying to him. His job is of high status, which also adds to his surface sense of wellbeing. He has the outward attributes of a successful life, such as a nice house and a wife. But a series of events lead him to reject his conventional life.

Meeting the ethereal teenaged girl Clarisse becomes the first precipitating event that causes him to start questioning how happy he really is.

A second event, close on its heels, is his coming home to find out that Mildred has attempted suicide. These two events, so close together, upend his settled beliefs about his life.

A third event that inspires him to change is watching a woman whose books they are burning incinerate herself rather than live without books.

A fourth important turning point that symbolizes an irrevocable step into a new life is Montag's taking of a book for his own, which leads to him taking more books.

A fifth event is his encounter with Faber and their decision to sabotage and subvert society.

A sixth act is reaching out to Mildred, trying to interest her in reading. This leads to her betraying him.

Seventh, Montag kills Beatty, finishing off the repressive "father" figure and freeing himself from the bonds to his old life.

Eighth, Montag's city is destroyed in a nuclear blast, and he becomes part of the group of men committed to preserving knowledge.

Here are eight key events from Fahrenheit 451:

1. Montag meets Clarisse, his seventeen-year-old neighbour, whose way of thinking is very different to his own. She is carefree and non-conformist and more interested in tasting the rain than driving fast in her Beetle.
2. At work, Montag attends a house where the lady stays to be burned with her books. Montag is amazed by her sacrifice and steals one of her books.
3. After Montag doesn't see Clarisse for a few days, Mildred reveals that she has died. This has a profound effect on Montag: the next day, for example, he develops a fever and misses work.
4. Beatty visits Montag at home and explains that the people, not the government, introduced book-burning.
5. Montag calls on Faber, a retired English professor, and forms an "insidious plan" to  bring down the fireman system.
6. Montag reads "Dover Beach" to his wife and her two friends, Mrs Phelps and Mrs Bowles. The poem's message reduces Mrs Phelps to tears because it reveals her empty and shallow existence.
7. Mildred reports Montag's hidden collection of books and leaves him. After her departure, Montag kills Beatty.
8. After fleeing the city, Montag meets some retired professors who have memorised books for future generations. Together, they watch the destruction of the city and prepare for its rebuilding.