ACT I
Corporal Moralès and the soldiers while away the time watching passers-by, among whom is Micaëla, a peasant girl. She asks Moralès if he knows Don Jose, and is told that he is a corporal in another platoon and expected to arrive shortly. Avoiding their invitation to step inside the guardroom, Micaëla escapes. The soldiers arrive along with a gang of street urchins imitating their drill. As the guards are changed, Moralès tells Jose that a girl is looking for him. Zuniga, the lieutenant in command of the new guard, questions Corporal Jose about the tobacco factory.
The factory bell rings and the men of Seville gather round the female workers as they return after their lunch break. The gypsy Carmen is awaited with anticipation. When the men gather round her, she tells them love obeys no known laws. Only one man pays no attention to her - Don Jose. Carmen throws a flower at him. The women go back into the factory and the crowd disperses.
Micaëla returns, bringing news of Jose's mother. She has sent Micaëla to give him a letter. When he reads her letter, Micaëla runs off in embarrassment since it suggests that he marry her. At the moment that he decides to obey, a fight is heard at the factory. The girls stream out with sharply conflicting accounts of the situation, but it is certain that Carmen was involved. Jose is ordered to tie her up and take her to prison. Carmen entices him to go dancing at the tavern outside the walls of Seville. Mesmerized, Jose agrees to help her escape. He unties the rope and, as they leave for prison, Carmen slips away. Don Jose is arrested.
ACT II
Carmen and her friends Frasquita and Mercédès entertain Zuniga and other officers. Zuniga tells Carmen that Jose has been released from jail. A torchlight procession in honor of the bullfighter Escamillo is heard, and the officers invite him in. He describes the excitements of his profession, in particular the amorous rewards that follow a successful bullfight. Escamillo propositions Carmen, but she replies that she is engaged for the moment. He says he will wait. Carmen refuses to leave with Zuniga, who threatens to return later.
When the company leaves the inn, the smugglers Dancaïre and Remendado enter. They have business in hand for which their regular female accomplices are essential. Frasquita and Mercédès are game, but Carmen refuses to leave Seville: she is in love. Her friends are incredulous. Jose's song is heard in the distance, and the smugglers withdraw. Carmen tells Jose that she has been dancing for his officers. When he reacts jealously, she agrees to entertain him alone, but the bugles call Jose back to his barracks. Carmen mocks him, but he answers by producing the flower she threw and telling her how its faded scent sustained his love during his time in prison. She replies that he doesn't love her; if he did he would desert and join her in a life of freedom in the mountains. Torn with doubts, he finally refuses, and she dismisses him contemptuously. As he leaves, Zuniga bursts in. In jealous rage Jose attacks him. The smugglers return, separate them, and constrain Zuniga. Jose now has no choice but to desert and join the smugglers.
ACT III
The gang enters with contraband and pauses for a brief rest while Dancaïre and Remendado go on a reconnaissance mission. Carmen and Jose quarrel, and Jose gazes down at the valley where his mother is living. Carmen advises him to join her. The women use cards to tell their fortunes: Frasquita and Mercédès foresee rich and gallant lovers, but Carmen's cards spell death, for her and for Jose, and she accepts the prophecy. Remendado and Dancaïre return announcing that customs officers are guarding the pass: Carmen, Frasquita, and Mercédès know how to deal with them and all depart. Micaëla appears in hopes of seeing Jose, but she hurries away in fear when a shot rings out. It is Jose firing at an intruder, who turns out to be Escamillo, transporting bulls to Seville. When Escamillo refers to the soldier whom Carmen once loved, Jose reveals himself and they fight. Carmen and the smugglers return and separate them. Escamillo invites everyone, especially Carmen, to be his guests at the next bullfight in Seville, and Jose is at the end of his tether. Micaëla is discovered, and she begs Jose to go with her to his mother but he furiously refuses. Micaëla reveals that Jose’s mother is dying. Jose promises Carmen that they will meet again. As Jose and Micaëla leave, Escamillo is heard singing in the distance.
ACT IV
Among the excited crowd cheering the bullfighters are Frasquita and Mercédès. Carmen enters on Escamillo's arm. Frasquita and Mercédès warn Carmen that Jose has been seen in the crowd. She says that she is not afraid. Jose enters, and implores her to forget the past and start a new life with him. She tells him calmly that everything between them is over. She will never give in: she was born free and free she will die. While the crowd is heard cheering Escamillo, Jose tries to prevent Carmen from joining her new lover. Carmen finally loses her temper, takes from her finger the ring that Jose once gave her, and throws it at his feet. Jose stabs her, and then confesses to the murder of the woman he loved.
-- courtesy Rodney Milnes, Opera News. Freely adapted.