Carmen, a tempestuous, fickle and desirable gypsy, works in a cigarette factory in Seville. Arrested after a spitting, hair-pulling fight with another girl, she is placed in the custody of the hero, Don Jose.
Don Jose is a simple, country boy, now a corporal in the army. Micaela, his fiancee, has come to town to find him. She has brought a message from his white-haired mother. Unfortunately, Carmen has already sung to him seductively and persuaded him let her escape. Micaela is distraught. Don Jose is placed under arrest for dereliction of duty.
Carmen is drinking at a tavern run by her friend, Lillas Pastia. Escamillo, a glamorous toreador, arrives with his entourage. He sings and waves his cloak temptingly, but she decides to wait for Don Jose.
On his release, Don Jose finds Carmen at the tavern. There he falls foul of the law yet again by beating up a superior officer who has dropped in for a drink. He then throws caution to the winds and agrees to desert the army and join Carmen and a band of smugglers in the mountains.
Time passes. Carmen grows bored with the country boy and decides to be Escamillo's guest at a bullfight. Don Jose is frantic. Micaela turns up, still dewy-eyed, still reminding him of how well she got on with his mother. He spurns her and sets out for Seville again to find Carmen.
Outside the bull ring Don Jose catches up with Carmen. He's impassioned. She's not interested. As noises off tell us of Escamillo's triumph over yet another bull, Don Jose pulls a knife and kills her. It all ends in tears.
