Plymouth opened the scoring with their first effort when a Lee Makel left-wing corner was met by Mathias Doumbe's diving header which went into the bottom left-hand corner of the net after 19 minutes.
Two minutes later Lee Makel had a shot on the turn which was saved by Preston goalkeeper Andy Lonergan.
Preston hit back and Graham Alexander had a twenty-yard left-foot shot tipped round the right hand post for a corner two minutes later.
Dickson Etuhu then had a left-foot shot from twenty yards which went wide of the left hand post in the 42nd minute.
Callum Davidson was booked for a foul on Keith Lasley a minute later, there were two minutes extra but it was 1-O to Plymouth at half-time.
Plymouth started brightly after the break and Makel had a right-foot shot which went straight at Lonergan after an hour.
Preston equalised in the 66th minute when an Eddie Lewis left-wing corner was met by Richard Cresswell and his six-yard header looped into the top right hand corner of the net to make it 1-1.
Claude Davis had a header straight at the Plymouth keeper in the 70th minute and Steve Adams of Plymouth had a shot on target which Lonergan easily saved, as the clash finished 1-1.