Direct contacts between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the plasma membrane (PM) have been observed in plants for decades, but their dimensions and distributions across tissues and developmental states were unknown. McFarlane et al (on pp.478-484) quantified ER-PM contact sites in a variety of Arabidopsis tissues at different developmental stages using live cell imaging, electron microscopy and tomography. They found that ER-PM contact sites were correlated with cell expansion - with abundant contact sites observed in young cells.