The movie starts with the tom-boy Utena at her first day at Ohtori Acadamy. A girl, Wakaba, introduces herself and shows this handsome new student around the campus. Later Utena meets up with her old friend Touga and the scene seems to be very emotional; Utena admitting to him that she came to the school to find the prince. She later finds a rose seal ring and wears it. Later Utena sees a boy slapping a girl (Saionji and Anthy) and challenges him to a duel using only a broom as a sword. She wins the duel and is shocked and a bit annoyed to find out that Anthy is now hers. From their first meeting, they were very intimate with each other. Utena has a hard time coping with Touga being around, since they were obviously very close as children. Anthy helps Utena to feel better and that's when Utena begins to warm up to Anthy. She is soon challenged to another duel by Juri, and ends up winning. Anthy tells Utena some secrets about the true reason as to why she is the Rose Bride. A scandal between Anthy and her brother Akio is soon revealed when Akio's corpse is discovered in the rose garden. Events play out and Utena and Anthy try to escape Ohtori Acadamy, where things come to a bizarre climax and conclusion.

It's hard to explain the movie well since it's a bit complicated. I've watched it multiple times, and I'm always catching new stuff in it.