A 
synopsis (
Greek συνοψις, 
synopsis, "a seeing-together") is a brief summary or overview.  A synopsis is often used at the beginning of  works of 
literature or the 
libretto of a performance, in order to outline the main course of the plot in relatively simple terms.
See also: Synoptic Gospels
All Wikipedia text 
is available under the 
terms of the GNU Free Documentation License