Quick and Dirty Tutorial:

Start the program.
Select NEW under the Scene menu.  The a name for your new Scene file.

The default scene file includes a camera object and an include object.
First, let's look at the include object.  To select the include object as 
current (the fast way), use the cycle buttons (the lower 2 buttons to the
right of the object name in the Object Properties window, marked "<" and
">").  Click on these buttons until the include object is current.

To see the include section of your scene, click on the checkered button
in the upper-left hand corner of the Object Properties window  (for most
objects this is the Texture edit button).  You will see a dialog box
with the default include stuff.  You can add anything you want here 
(comments, more includes, whatever), and they will be added to the
top of the .POV file.  Click OK to accept the changes.

Now let's create an object.  Click the sphere button (the very left one) on
the speedbar at the top of the screen.  You will be prompted for a name for
the sphere.  Name it whatever you want (it's a good idea to name them 
something you'll remember later, not 'sphere1' or 'bigsphere', but something
like 'beachball' or 'earth'.  Once you've named the object, you'll see a
sphere of radius one in the view windows.

Now let's make the sphere bigger.  Click on the button marked "U" in the
Object Properties window.  This scales all three dimensions of the object
uniformly.  Now put the mouse in any of the view windows except the 3D 
window, and slowly drag the mouse across the window (it doesn't matter for
uniform scaling whether you drag up-down or left-right.)  The object
will get bigger or smaller.  Experiment with this awhile until you get a feel
for it.  You can also type new scale dimensions in the Object Properties window
directly.  After typing, click on the object properties window with the
right mouse button to redraw all windows.  This manual redraw lets YOU control
when you want to wait for redraws, instead of ALWAYS redrawing every
window.  You can also turn windows off and on with the check boxes at the
top of the screen, to the right of the export button (the one with the 
little boat on it)

Our sphere needs a texture.  Click on the texture button (the one we used
to see the include section).  To choose a texture from the dialog box,
make that texture the current one and press the button marked "<-".
Select OK when you've picked a texture.

Now, let's move the camera so out sphere is off-center.  Use the object cycle
buttons to find the camera object.  Notice the "P" and "L" radio buttons
by the translate section of the Object Properties window.  Select button
"L" for look-at.  Go to the Side window, and drag the camera (the straight
line) so its point is closer to the sphere's edge than right at it's center.
Notice that as you move the camera, a tri-color gird appears in the 3d window.
This gird will give you a good idea of where the camera is going to, and it's
much faster than redrawing the whole scene as you move the camera.  The scene
will redraw when you're done dragging the camera.  Now select radio button
"P" and try to drag again.  Notice now you are moving the camera POINT  (where
the user is standing).  You can now zoom the final scene in, out, or look at
it from different angles.

Our scene will need a light source.  Click the button on the speedbar that
looks like a sun to create a point light source, and name the light source.
Light sources appear in the scene as little yellow spheres.

To change the color of the light, select the button to the right of the
texture button.  Right now, that button has a sun on it.  the picture
on this button changes depending on which object is current.  This is the
Extended Edit button.  It will call forth a different dialog box for each
object type that requires extended editing.  For many objects, extended
editing isn't needed, and this button will be disabled.  

The light source extended edit dialog has three sliders to control the
red, green and blue components of the light.  Change the color to any
color you wish and select OK.  (note that spotlight edit boxes are also in
this dialog box, but are disabled for point light sources).

You can also change the color of the light's RGB components directly on the 
Object Properties window, in the edit boxes that are normally used for Scaling
objects (no need to scale light sources!).

Now let's move the light somewhere "up" in our scene.  Select the T button on
the Object Properties window (translate).  Go to the Front view window, press
the mouse button, and drag the light source up by moving the mouse up.

What if you wanted to move the light higher than you can see on the scene?
There are many ways to change the view windows.  Firstly, you can size the
windows directly to any size you wish.  Or, you can "maximize" a window by
going to the Window menu and selecting "Max" and then the window you wish to
enlarge (this isn't a true Windows "maximize", the window's final size is the
total size of the original four view windows.)  To put the windows back in
their final place, select "Arrange all" in the Window menu. 

Lastly, you can zoom the camera point of the view windows by holding down the
CTRL key and dragging the mouse up or down on the window.  The infamous
Tri-color grid will show you the result of your zoom.

To export your scene, select the button with the little boat for Export.  It's
in the center of the speedbar at the top of the screen.  You'll see a preview
of the final .POV file.  If it looks good, click the Export button.