How To Uses Modules And Plugins

[marion at everautumn.com]

I am working on a client/server, computer role-play game using Python.
I want to gradually expand the game world by creating maps as
individual py files in a map directory. I am a little foggy of how to
do this. I have read about the __import__() function. I want to
understand what the difference is between using modules and plugins.
Are they the same thing? How will my root script interact with the
individual modules once it has loaded them? If you can point me to a
web site or tutorial on this subject I would be thankful.