ACT I – Outside the Factory
In a square in Seville, soldiers and townspeople relax in the summer sun. Micaela comes in looking for her sweetheart, Corporal Don José. Moralès, an officer, tells her José will be there later and she leaves. As the guard changes, children parade around, imitating the soldiers whose number now includes José. The noon bell rings and the girls from the cigarette factory come out to smoke and chat. The gypsy Carmen flirts, explaining her philosophy of life: love is a wild bird that cannot be tamed. José sits apart, distracted. Carmen is drawn by his indifference and tosses him a flower as the work bell summons the girls back to the factory. Micaela returns to give José news of his mother. As she leaves a disturbance is heard in the factory. Carmen is involved in a fight, and the girls run out, arguing over who started it. Captain Zuniga orders that José arrest Carmen, but she resists their questions with brazen nonchalance. Her wrists bound, she sings “to herself” about Lillas Pastia’s inn and the rendezvous she might arrange with José. Falling under her spell, he loosens her bonds. The crowd roars with delight as she escapes; José is arrested.

ACT II – Lillas Pastia’s Tavern
Two months later, at Pastia’s inn, Carmen regales the customers with a gypsy song and exerts her charms on the matador Escamillo, who boasts of his exploits in the arena. When the inn closes, Carmen tells Frasquita, Mercedes, Dancairo and Remendado that love for José keeps her from joining their next smuggling escapade. They laugh at her, then hide as José approaches. Carmen sings and dances for him, but a distant bugle sounds, summoning the soldiers back to their barracks. This angers her, but José calms her by showing her the flower she threw, telling what it meant to him in prison. She invites him to join her wild mountain life, but he refuses. Zuniga breaks in looking for Carmen, provoking a jealous attack by José. He now has no choice but to desert the army and join the gypsy band.

ACT III – In the mountains
In their mountain hideout the smugglers congratulate themselves on their success, but José is unhappy. Carmen tires of his homesickness and busies herself with her friends, reading fortunes in the cards. Frasquita foresees an ardent lover in her future, Mercedes a wealthy husband, Carmen only death. The gypsies leave and Micaela enters, searching for José. She hears a shot fired and hides. It was José firing a warning at Escamillo who had come looking for Carmen. The two start to fight, but are separated by the gypsies. Escamillo invites them to his next bullfight and leaves. Remendado brings in Micaela, who begs José to return home to his dying mother. Wanting to be free of José, Carmen urges him to go. José consents, but vows to find her after he has seen his mother.

ACT IV – Outside the Arena
A crowd gathers for the bullfight in the Plaza de Toros. Carmen enters with Escamillo, assuring him of her love. She waits in the square, though her friends warn her that José has been seen prowling around, looking desperate. Carmen, a fatalist, knows that she must face José. He begs her to come back to him, but she refuses, tossing his ring at him as the crowd cheers Escamillo. As Carmne tries to run past José into the arena, he stabs her, then falls in despair over her body.