[Objective] To identify the relationships between plant community characteristics and soil water storage following natural vegetation restoration after farmland abandonment, in order to provide a reference for vegetation restoration on the Loess Plateau. [Methods] Samples were collected in plots with different natural restoration years (3, 8, 13, 46, 66 and 89 a), to quantify the changes in soil water (0-100 cm) and ecological characteristics such as plant biomass and plant diversity in the Yunwu Mountain in Guyuan City, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. [Results] With the succession of grassland, the plant community coverage, biomass and species diversity index increased dramatically at the early successional stages (before 13 a), and then gradually stabilized. Soil water content showed an increasing trend along the vegetation restoration years. The succession of vegetation communities had no significant effect on soil water storage in the 0-40 cm soil depths, but in the later stage of succession, the water content below 40 cm depths showed an obvious decreasing trend. Vegetation biomass and species diversity index were positively correlated with soil water content at 0-10 cm depths. [Conclusion] Soil water in the topsoil played a positive role in the variations of plant biomass and species diversity induced by vegetation restoration. However, the increase of the root biomass in the deep soil increased the consumption of soil water storage, especially in the later successional stage.