Usagi Tsukino is a boy-crazy, crybaby girl who doesn't work very hard at school and likes to eat. However, one day she finds a black cat with a moon-shaped mark on its forehead... the cat's name is Luna, and Luna teaches Usagi how to transform into the pretty-suited sailor senshi, Sailormoon.

Under Luna's tutelage, Usagi finds herself fighting the evil warriors of the Dark Kingdom. She is soon joined by more schoolgirls who also turn out to be Sailor senshi - Sailormercury, a quiet, blue-haired genius; Sailormars, a fiery, mysterious Shinto priestess, and Sailorjupiter, a tall, strong girl with a kind heart. Along the way, they are helped by a mysterious man they call Tuxedo Kamen.

They are joined by Sailorvenus, a playful warrior who has been fighting for justice long before Sailormoon awakened to her powers. Soon after this, it is revealed to Usagi that she is also the reincarnation of Princess Serenity, the ancient princess of the moon; as Serenity, she loved Prince Endymion of the Earth. She was to rediscover this love in the present time; Endymion was actually Tuxedo Kamen, a medical student named Mamoru Chiba. They died out of love for each other in the past, and were sent forward in time to be born again. In defeating the Dark Kingdom, they died again - but the power of the Illusion Silver Crystal, the intrinsic power of Sailormoon, brought them back to life.

Then follow several more episodes... the kidnapping and rescue of the senshi... the appearance of the Small Lady Chibiusa, Usagi and Mamoru's daughter from the future... the appearance of the outer senshi - Sailorpluto, the serene guardian of the space-time portal; Sailoruranus, an enigmatic daredevil, Sailorneptune, a beautiful musician, and the lonely, hurt child Sailorsaturn... the revelation of the unicorn Elios, the guardian of the holy land Elysion... and finally, the SailorStarlights arrive to help them defeat Galaxia, Chaos incarnate...

It's hard to summarize something this complicated, isn't it?

Oh. Right. By the way, Sailors Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter are referred to as the "inner senshi," and Pluto, Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn are the "outer senshi." This is because, aside from the obvious spatial thing, the senshi of the outer planets tend to be solitary, and the inner senshi are more social and band together more often to protect Sailormoon. (Note: Apparently these terms were invented by a webmaster long ago. Amazing how terms fall into common usage, isn't it?)