Act 1    A group of soldiers together with the townspeople throng the city square at midday before the soldiers' guard is relieved.  Micaela enters seeking Don Jose', but leaves disappointed.  Interest focuses on the cigarette factory girls who come at noon, but especially on Carmen.  She flings a flower at the apparently indifferent Done Jose'.  When the girls have one back to work, Micaela brings Don Jose' a message from his mother.  A commotion is then heard: Carmen, in a quarrel, has cut with a knife a fellow worker.  Zuniga arrests her, but Carmen wins over Don Jose' and he helps her to escape.

Act 2    Carmen is with her friends, singing and dancing at Lillas Pastia's bar.  Escamillo, the famous bullfighter, enters and attracts Carmen.  She, however, is waiting for Don Jose', about to be released from prison.  When he enters, she urges him to desert the army and join her in a life of "true liberty".  At first he refuses, but when Zuniga appears and orders him out a fight ensues.  Dancairo and Remendado, two smugglers rush in, overpower the officer and Carmen and her friends finally convince Don Jose' to take to the mountains with them.

Act 3    The smugglers are in their mountain hiding place.  Jose' is homesick and Carmen taunts him.  She and her to friends, Mercedes and Frasquita, read the cards to discover their fates.  When the others have gone, Escamillo appears seeking Carmen.  Jose', wildly jealous, fights with him but the two are separated.  Micaela again finds Jose' and begs him to go with her to his dying mother.  Warning Carmen that he will meet her again, Jose' leaves.

Act 4    Carmen and Escamillo join the excited crowd outside the Bull Ring.  Carmen, despite the warnings of her friends, decides to speak to her discarded lover, Don Jose'.  They meet while the crowd inside the arena hail the victorious Escamillo.