The motion of plates is called plate kinematics. It can be relative or absolute, and both are explained in this chapter. Surface movements can be measured from space, and the results show that active deformation, volcanism and seismicity are focused along plate boundaries. This chapter emphasizes that the Earth‘s inner seismic structure confirms that the mantle is dynamic and in constant motion. Convective mantle flow has been suggested for a century and are a major field of research because of its indirect association with plate motions. Plumes represent more localized columns of upward moving hot mantle that generate crustal magmatism and volcanoes. They work together like a big internal machinery with implications for many geologic, geophysical and biologic processes. This chapter summarizes plate tectonics and the deeper plume and hotspot processes, and how it is possible to constrain and reconstruct plate motion into the past and, to some extent, also into the future.