Act I—Scene 1

Act 1 opens in a square in Seville, Spain, as townspeople wait for the local cigarette-factory girls to take their smoking breaks.  While waiting, Micaela, a young peasant girl from outside Seville, speaks with Zuniga, an army lieutenant.  Micaela asks Zuniga about Don Jose, a corporal in service with Zuniga.  Zuniga tells Micaela that Don Jose is expected to report for duty shortly.  As Micaela leaves, the factory girls arrive.   Among them is Carmen, a deeply alluring Gypsy beauty.  All the men flock around Carmen except for Don Jose.  Carmen attempts to allure Don Jose by dropping a flower at his feet; he is enamored. Carmen leaves while Micaela, the peasant girl, approaches Don Jose with a “kiss from his mother” and a letter.  As Don Jose begins to read, Micaela rushes off in embarrassment because the letter contains a suggestion from his mother that Don Jose marry Micaela.  Torn between his loyalty to his mother and Micaela and his sudden passion for Carmen, Don Jose becomes conflicted. As he decides to forget Carmen and obey his mother’s bidding, Carmen reappears with a co-worker after a fight inside the factory.  A woman inside the factory was injured by Carmen, so Zuniga orders Don Jose to take her to jail.  Carmen convinces Don Jose to let her escape, promising to meet him later at Lillas Pastia’s tavern.  Overcome with his renewed desire for her, Jose allows Carmen’s escape, and is thrown in jail for disobeying an order.

Act I— Scene 2

At the inn, Carmen and her friends, Frasquita and Mercedes, sing and dance for Zuniga.  Zuniga tells Carmen that Don Jose has been released after a month-long prison sentence.  Escamillo, a great bullfighter, enters singing of his great victories while the patrons cheer.  Escamillo, captivated by Carmen’s beauty, soon focuses his attention on her.  Escamillo asks Carmen her name so he may “have it on his lips during the next bullfight.”  She flirts coquettishly, saying she is engaged.  As he leaves, Escamillo promises to wait for her.   A quartet of smugglers approaches Carmen and her friends and asks them to help move contraband across the border.  The women agree.  Don Jose arrives singing his love for Carmen.  Carmen asks Don Jose to leave the army and become a smuggler, too.  Just then, Zuniga enters seeking love from Carmen.  Don Jose becomes enraged with jealousy, forces Zuniga to leave, and decides to join the smugglers.

Act II—Scene 1

At the smugglers’ mountain hideout, Don Jose longs for his mother.  Carmen, already tired of Don Jose, tells him to go home to his mother, but he remains.  Carmen attempts to view her future by reading “the cards” and sees that death awaits her very soon.  Carmen and the smugglers exit.  Micaela enters and finds Don Jose on look-out.  She tells Don Jose that his beloved mother is about to die.  Suddenly, Escamillo appears and fights with Don Jose over Carmen as Micaela hides.  The smugglers come upon the scene and stop the quarrel, and Escamillio invites them to the bullfight in Seville.  Don Jose decides not to go to the bullfight; he leaves to see his dying mother instead, promising Carmen that he will return for her soon.

Act II—Scene 2

At the bullfight, Carmen, the smugglers and others gather outside the arena.  Carmen is warned that Don Jose is in the area.  She says his presence doesn’t mean anything to her.  As the crowd cheers from inside the arena, Don Jose appears and asks Carmen to leave with him, but she refuses.  In a jealous fit of rage, Don Jose stabs Carmen to death as the crowd cheers on Escamillio.