Haha, well the basic plot from my understanding is that the Main character Takaki, and Akari became good friends in about 4th grade. Then as the grew older they were seperated, thus the movies title "A chain of stories about the seperation" or something like that. Episode 1 is just their childhood mostly, and then they see each other again after writing to each other for so long. Rumor has it that episode 2 and 3 are from diffrent perspectives, and diffrent times.

Also the best fan website willed with information is available at This site

I love makato Shinkai's work and started a group named Shinkai Brilliance to prove it haha. If you enjoy the anime, make sure to see the others listed on that site.
~SLaka