If you want this promotion, you're going to have to 'step up to the plate'. [=you will have to improve your work performance to show that you deserve the promotion]
She has a lot 'on her plate' right now. [=she has a lot of things that she has to deal with right now]
He was handed the job 'on a plate'. [=he was given the job without having to do anything to earn it]
(..) but the minute I laid my eyes on your daughter, I knew Evelyn was for me. It was pure luck! If my cab driver hadn't driven through the plate glass roof of that restaurant, I would never have met Leonard. He was having coffee. We barreled right under him. I didn't spill. Bobby, you met her. (..)2016 Café Society