You can open the form in design mode and look at the submit button to see what it does. It could submit to SharePoint, send email or submit via a webservice, among other options. Once the form is open in design mode, look at the submit button to find where the data is getting submitted to. You could modify the submit button as necessary if the current submit operation is not what you want.
A form template is the XSN. A form is the xml that is generated when the XSN is filled out.
Good luck!