The water cycle describes the continuous movement of water on, above, and below the Earth's surface through evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. Water evaporates from bodies of water into water vapor, condenses into liquid water, and falls back to the Earth's surface as precipitation to collect in bodies of water and complete the cycle. The key steps are evaporation of water into vapor, condensation of vapor back into liquid water, and precipitation of water back to the Earth.