The Earth of the future is a world in which the rich and high-class people have converted their bodies into mechanized forms while the poor are living day to day oppressed. Tetsuro Hoshino is one of those poor people who has heard rumors that those who are passengers on the Galaxy Express 999 can travel from the Milky Way to the Andromeda Galaxy to a planet that gives away free machine bodies for free. Tetsuro’s dreams are to go Megaopolis City and get a job so he and his mother can travel on the 999. On the way to the city, cyborg noblemen who trophy hunt humans for fun shoot Tetsuro's mother and plan carry her off as their prize. They manange to do so but not before Tetsuro hears his mother’s dying wish that he lives a long life to make up for his parent’s short ones. Tetsuro vows to avenge his mother except he comes across a beautiful, blonde haired woman dressed in all black, who, bears a striking resemblence to his mother named Maetel. After hearing of Tetsuro’s plight, Maetel offers young Tetsuro who is now an orphan the rail pass he desired so much for passage onboard 999. Maetel’s only condition for giving Tetsuro this pass is that she seeks an escort on her travels. Though mystified, Tetsuro sees that this pass is his single chance to get off Earth, see the universe, and get a mechanized body and thus live forever. The real question however, is can he make it?