This paper presents a study of children's abilities to make inferences about an actor's plans and to use these inferences to assign blame and praise. Preschool children were presented with eight stories combining good and bad intentions with final outcomes that were either intended or accidental (foreseeable or unforeseeable side effects). Results indicated that young children differentiate accidental circumstances from intentional ones and use this distinction to evaluate an actor's behavior; but that when children have difficulty interpreting plans, it is because they fail to coordinate assertions about the actor's beliefs, knowledge and expectations with the assumed goal. (Author/MP)