The term 'MacGuffin' was popularised by Alfred Hitchcock. It is part of film, which is essentially something that the entire story is built around, and yet has no real relevance. It is an object around which the plot evolves, but, as to what the object actually is, is unimportant to the audience. Common examples are money, victory, glory, survival, a source of power, or a potential threat, or it may simply be something entirely unexplained.
In the case of 'North by Northwest' the MacGuffin is introduced towards the end of the film; a microfilm, containing top secret government files, that the villains are smuggling out of the country. It could also be said that the character Kaplan is a MacGuffin, as Thornhill, as well as the villains, spend most of the movie vainly trying to track him down.
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