Fushigi Yûgi is an epic romance story. It starts in modern Japan with a jr. high student, Miaka Yûki, and her best friend, Yui Hongo, preparing for the horrible high school entrance exams coming up soon. Miaka is a little ditzy and loves food, and Yui is the smarter one. Miaka hates school, but she doesn't want to disappoint her mother, so she attends cram school every day and is studying very hard for these exams. One day, Miaka and Yui go to the local library and Miaka sees a red light go into a room that's restricted to the employees. Curious, she goes in and finds a book called Shijin Tenchi Sho, or "The Universe of the Four Gods." Yui comes in to see what she's up to, and they both begin to look at the book, and by reading it aloud, they are magically thrown into the world of the book, which resembles ancient China.

Finding themselves in trouble as soon as they are transported, they are rescued by a handsome man who introduces himself as Tamahome. Upset that the girls can't pay for his services, he leaves. At that instant, Yui disappears and transfers back to the library, leaving Miaka in the strange world alone. She goes to find Tamahome again, and he agrees to let her walk around with him if she gets a jewel from the emperor. He was, of course, kidding, but Miaka goes up to the emperor's passing carriage and asks for a jewel. '-' So, Miaka and Tamahome are thrown into the royal dungeon. They escape and Miaka runs into who she thinks is a beautiful woman, but he in fact tells her that he is the young emperor who calls himself Hotohori. (Of course, he does agree to himself being beautiful...'-') It is Hotohori who tells Miaka of a legend of a girl from another world coming to protect Konan Country by becoming the Suzaku no Miko, or "Priestess of the Suzaku." (The Suzaku is the red phoenix animal god ruling the South country, Konan.) Not seeing any other way to get home, Miaka agrees to become the Miko.