Plot Summary

First, some background.  1000 years ago the War of the Magi ripped the world apart.  Humans battled magical creatures called Espers for control of the mystic force known as magic.  The war ended with the Espers creating a separate world for them to live in and forever separating themselves from humans.  Magic ceased to exist, and over the next 1000 years humans slowly advanced technologically, and by the time of our story the world is entering an industrial revolution.  An ambitious leader known as Emperor Gestahl has seized control of the entire southern continent, and rumors say his soldiers use magical machines to kill.  Far to the north in the mining town of Narshe, it is believed an Esper frozen since the great war has been discovered.  The emperor sends a squad consisting of two soldiers and a mysterious young woman who possesses the uncanny ability to cast magic spells, all three riding in magic-powered MagiTek machines, to investigate, and so the tale begins...
  The squad encounters the Esper, who from behind its frozen barrier manages to kill the two soldiers and strangely react to the young girl, who falls unconscious.  She is rescued by an agent of the Returners, a faction resisting the Empire, and has the slave crown removed from her head so she is no longer under the Emperor's control.  She remembers that her name is Terra but no little else of her own past.  In an attempt to escape from Narshe Terra suffers a fall and it is up to Locke, a famed treasure hunter and spy for the Returners, to rescue her.  Together they travel to the country of Figaro to the south.

Terra Branford, the young woman with the ability to use magic, a talent unknown in the world for 1000 years.  The plot often revolves around the development of her character.

Locke Cole, an ambitious treasure hunter struggling to cope with his own traumatic past.  Call him a thief and he just might slit your throat.

Edgar Roni Figaro, the young king of the country,  claims to be an ally of the Empire on the surface but is secretly collaborating with the Returners.  Locke and Edgar realize that Terra's strange power could be the key in overcoming the zealous Empire and decide they should take her to the leader of the Returners, Banon.  Kefka, Gestahl's number two man who is slightly off his rocker, visits Figaro demanding that Edgar hand Terra over.  When he refuses to do so he sets fire to the castle, only to find out that the desert fortress can submerge into the sand.  Edgar, Locke, and Terra escape and head for the Returners' Hideout.  On the way they meet Edgar's brother, Sabin Rene Figaro, who forsaked joint rule of the kingdom to pursue a solitary life and study of the martial arts.  At Edgar's request Sabin agrees to lend his services to their cause.
  Sir Banon, leader of the Returners, manages to convince Terra to help them in their mission.  It is decided that they should return to Narshe to examine the Esper.  A messenger reveals that the town of South Figaro has fallen to the Empire, and Locke agrees to go there to gather information.  The rest travel to Narshe on the Lete River but during a battle with the strange monster Ultros Sabin is lost in the rapids.  Edgar, Terra, and Banon arrive at Narshe only to learn that Kefka is planning an attack to capture the Esper, and await their friends' arrival so that they may mount a proper defense.
  While escaping from South Figaro Locke rescues Celes Chere, a former general of the Empire who turned traitor.  Only 18 years old, Celes can also use magic, but because as a young child she was somehow infused with the power and raised as a MagiTek Knight.  Locke promises to protect Celes, who is left to wonder why he seems to care so much.  Together they travel to Narshe.
  Meanwhile Sabin washes ashore in the country of Doma and meets Shadow, a mysterious ninja who agrees to travel with him for a while.  They stumble across an imperial camp near the castle of Doma, making it apparent that the empire is about to attack.  Kefka poisons the water supply of Doma, thereby killing most of the defenders.  One of the few surviving is Cyan, a knight retainer to the king, who dies from the poison, along with Cyan's wife and child.  Cyan, mad with rage, single-handedly fights off the imperial attacks and launches an attack of his own on the camp.  Sabin rushes to help, and they escape riding on MagiTek machines.
  After Shadow's brief goodbye Sabin and Cyan set out to somehow find their way back to Narshe.  They travel to the Veldt, a truly wild region where monsters from all over the world migrate, and meet Gau, a wild boy who has lived his entire life among the monsters.  After being fed Gau takes a liking to Sabin and Cyan and promises to give them a present.  His present is an underwater breathing mask, which allows them to travel the Serpent Trench to the port town of Nikeah, where they catch a ship to South Figaro and eventually reach Narshe.
  In an epic battle the group fends off a massive attack by Kefka.  Terra is then taken to the Esper, and this time she turns into some kind of strange human-like creature and flies off into the sky.  The rest immmediately realize that they must find her and set off to do so.  At a brief stopover in Figaro Edgar and Sabin discuss the troubles that were associated with their father dying and the two separating, one to rule the country and the other to forsake it, and resolve to in the future always work together to honor their parents.  In the town of Kohlingen Locke finds his former fiance Rachel, who is now being kept in suspended animation thanks to a wacky old man and some special herbs.  Years ago Locke failed to save Rachel from a nasty fall which caused her to have amnesia and forget who Locke was.  Utterly lost, Locke left Kohlingen only to return some time later to discover that Rachel had died in an imperial attack.  From then on Locke has lived with the guilt that he was not able to protect Rachel when she needed him.
  The group finds Terra in the town of Zozo, resting peacefully in her strange form.  They are visited by the Esper Ramuh, who reveals that Terra is the child of the Esper Maduin and a human woman that was swept into the Esper world 20 years ago (thus explaining her magic powers).  Two years later Gestahl found the gate to the world, captured several Espers, found Terra and trained her as a magical killing machine.  Ramuh grants the group the ability to use magic by utilizing Espers, and begs them to save the remaining Espers being held in the Empire's MagiTek Research Facility in the imperial capital of Vector on the southern continent.  The group makes their way to Vector with the help of Setzer Gabbiani, a gamblin' fool and owner of the world's only airship.
  They infilitrate the facility, to discover that the process of infusing somone with magical powers involves draining an Esper's life energy.  Kefka and Gestahl appear, and Celes seemingly returns to the Empire's side.  With the help of Setzer the party makes a daring escape from Vector and decides to take Terra to the gate to the Esper World.  Once at the gate Terra opens it, but Kefka and Gestahl have followed to capture the Espers' power.  Before they can do a thing the Espers go nuts, fly towards Vector and burn a good chunk of it to the ground.  With this defeat under their belts the Empire offers a truce.  Kefka is jailed for war crimes.  Gestahl makes the offer of a joint mission to find the Sealed Continent, (my memory is a little foggy here) which should contain the power to bring the Espers under control.  During the mission to the backwater village of Thamasa Locke meets up with Celes, now once again under the service of the Empire, and the two are hardly on what you would call speaking terms.  In Thamasa they meet the old man Strago Magus and his granddaughter Relm Arrowny who offer their services in helping to finding the continent.  The Sealed Continent, containing the goddess statues of unlimited power, is raised, and once again it becomes apparents that the Empire was just using the group for their own devices.  Kefka attacks the magic-rich town of Thamasa and is temporarily defeated by the sacrifice of the Empire's General Leo, a truly honorable man.
  Kefka and Gestahl race off to the floating Sealed Continent and the crew must stop them.  After an epic battle with the Imperial Air Force and the ultimate creature known as the Atma Weapon, they catch up with Gestahl and Kefka just as they reach the statues.  Kefka goes nuts, kills Emperor Gestahl, and is about to kill our heroes when Celes appears and saves them, finally proving her loyalty.  Kefka rearranges the statues which causes a disruption in the balance of nature, and, well, can you say apocalypse?
  After spending an entire year in a coma Celes awakens on a small island with the Empire's MagiTek researcher Cid as her only companion.  The world has greatly changed.  Continents shifted, seas retreated in some areas and overflowed others.  Some towns have been wiped off the face of the earth.  In this world Kefka reigns from his tower high above the land, using the power of the statues.  Celes sets off on a journey, and one by one finds her lost companions.  Each undergoes a dramatic change in character.  Terra finds her identity and discovers that there are people that love her.  Locke finds a relic that allows him to briefly revive Rachel, and she renews his purpose in life.  He and Celes finally completely fall for each other (you knew it was gonna happen).  Setzer, lost without an airship in this new world, visits the tomb of his love Darryl, who also owned an airship and died in a wreck after she challenged Setzer to a race; in the tomb Setzer had buried the airship and his own painful memories.  Gau discovers that his father thought he was a "monster child" and left him to live with the wild animals, but finds that others do care about him.  Cyan overcomes the grief of the loss of his wife and son.  Once they are all prepared, they head off to Kefka's tower, and in a spectacular finale defeat him and renew the hope of the world.