Two major things drive human beings: external needs (food, shelter, getting to the dentist on time, etc.) and internal needs (i.e., emotions). Plots are made from the combination of the two.
Try this exercise. Give your character an external need: get away from the aliens, make dinner for the boss, whatever. Give your character a powerful underlying emotion. Now write the scene. That done, give your character a different emotion. Write the scene again. The two scenes should be dramatically different.
Here, in summary, is an example. Joe needs to get to the dentist on time, but he’s afraid. He doesn’t acknowledge that he’s afraid, even to himself, because after all he’s a CEO, a captain of industry. So what happens? He answers one last phone call, he stands in a spot where he isn’t likely to get a taxi (this is NYC), he decides to call for the company’s car and driver but it’s in use far away, he fusses and fumes until a taxi finally arrives and he finally gets to the dentist, late. In an alternate scenario, Joe, unafraid, has arranged in advance for the car and driver, and when the phone rings as he’s leaving he tells his secretary to answer it. He strides out of the building to the waiting car and arrives at the dentist’s office unperturbed and on time. A totally different scene. Of course the first one is more interesting because the character’s in conflict with himself. But that’s a subject for another blog!
