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In the most general sense, futures are all about future prices. People who trade futures essentially trade agreements about how much they will buy or sell something for at a specific date in the future - usually within a few months or less. These agreements are contracts that also specify the quantity and other details of the commodity being traded.
Futures contracts are traded through an auction-like process, with all bids and offers on each contract made public. Through this, a prevailing market price is reached for each contract, based primarily on the laws of supply and demand. This forum is a useful - and essential - element in a free market economy. Futures markets are rarely used to actually buy or sell the physical commodity or financial instrument being traded; they're used for price estimation, risk management, and for some people, investment and profit. (See the hand signals used to trade options at the Merc.)
Dating back to the 1800s (and in some ways, back to the earliest beginnings of commerce), the futures markets were initially developed to help agricultural producers and consumers manage the price risks they faced with harvesting, marketing and processing annual crops. The futures industry still serves those markets, but has also broadened along with the expansion of our economy beyond its agricultural roots. Today, for example, futures are essential to the financial markets, and provide risk management tools related to interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodity indexes.
The futures markets have succeeded - and thrived - because they have attracted two kinds of investors/traders: "hedgers" (those seeking to minimize and manage price risk) and "speculators" (those willing to take on risk in the hope of making a profit). The success of the industry is also related to the variety of futures contracts that have been developed to meet the needs of today's complex business enterprises.
If you're interested in seeing how world events become reflected in the prices you pay for things such as filling up your car at the gas tank, stocking your shelves with groceries, or getting a mortgage to buy a house, you may find futures fascinating.
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