ACT I  In a square in Seville, soldiers pass the time by watching the townspeople. Micaela arrives in search of  Don José, a corporal who is her adopted brother. Moralès, one of the officers, tells her that José will be there later. He offers himse­lf as a substitute, but Micaela leaves hastily. As the guard changes, children parade, imitating the soldiers whose number now includes José. At the sound of the noon bell, girls from the cigarette factory come to smoke and chat. Carmen, a Gypsy who works in the factory, flirts with the local men. Sullen and distracted, José sits apart. Drawn by his indifference, Carmen tosses him a flower as the work bell calls the girls back inside. Micaela returns to give José news of his mother, who has sent him a letter and a kiss, which the girl delivers shyly. Micaela knows that in the letter, José’s mother begs him to come home and marry Micaela, so she escapes promising to return later. No sooner has she left than a disturbance is heard in the factory: Carmen is involved in a fight. The girls run out, arguing over who started it. Lieutenant Zuniga orders José to arrest Carmen, but she resists their questions with brazen nonchalance. Her wrists bound, she is left alone with José, who forbids her to speak to him. Instead, she flirts with him by singing to herself about Lillas Pastia’s inn and the rendezvous she might make with “a certain officer” who has taken her fancy. José, intoxicated, agrees to let her escape in exchange for the promised rendezvous; when she pushes him to the ground and runs off, he is arrested for his negligence.
 

ACT II  A month later, at Lillas Pastia’s, Carmen regales the customers with a Gypsy song. The matador Escamillo arrives, boasting of his exploits in the arena. He is immediately attracted to Carmen, who puts off his amorous advances. When the inn closes, Dancairo and Remendado try to convince Frasquita, Mercédès, and Carmen to accompany them on their next smuggling trip. The girls are game, except for Carmen, who says she is in love with José and is awaiting his return from prison. The others laugh at her, then depart as José is heard approaching. Carmen sings and dances for him, but when a distant bugle sounds the retreat, he says he must return to the barracks. Carmen angrily mocks him, saying he doesn’t love her, and he replies by telling her how he has kept the flower she threw, the scent of its wilted blossom conjuring up her image in his prison cell. He refuses her suggestion that he join her wild mountain life, but when Zuniga breaks in, looking for Carmen, José loses his temper and attacks his superior. Carmen summons the other Gypsies, who deal with Zuniga in their own way. José, now an outlaw, has no choice but to join their band.

ACT III  In the mountains near a border town, the smugglers make camp. Dancairo and Remendado go to investigate the way into town. José is unhappy; he and Carmen have been fighting and he is worried that Carmen has grown tired of him. Frasquita and Mercédès begin reading their fortunes in the cards.  When Carmen begins to do the same for herself, she sees only death. Dancairo and Remendado return frustrated that there are three guards barring the border crossing. These men are well known to the Gypsy women who tell the smugglers that there will be no problem getting past them. The smugglers go off to deal with the guards, leaving José to guard the merchandise. Micaela, led by her guide, has discovered the hideout of the smugglers. She is determined to find José, but is quite frightened. She hides at the sound of a shot, fired by José as a warning to Escamillo, who has come looking for Carmen. The two men start to fight but are separated by the returning Gypsies. Escamillo invites them all to his next bullfight. Remendado discovers Micaela, who has come to beg José to return home to his ailing mother. Carmen dismisses him willingly, but José, convinced she wants to be rid of him in order to take up with Escamillo, vows to find her again after he has seen his mother.

ACT IV  In Seville’s Plaza de Toros, the crowd gathers for the bullfight, hailing Escamillo. He and Carmen declare their love, and he enters the ring. Carmen’s friends warn that José has been spotted nearby, looking desperate. Carmen refuses to be afraid and defiantly remains in the square to face him. He enters and begs her to return to him, saying that there is still time for them to start again. She replies that everything is finished between them, tossing his ring in his face as the crowd is heard cheering the triumphant Escamillo. José is unable to control his passion and when Carmen tries to run past him into the arena, he stabs her and collapses in despair.