In a remote Spanish town, the free-spirited and independent Carmen declares that any man she loves should beware. She seduces the respectable police officer Don José, who goes against the wishes of his mother and the woman who loves him to abandon everything in favour of a life of danger with Carmen. But she soon grows bored of his possessiveness and turns her attention to the toreador Escamilo, causing Don José’s jealousy to erupt in a flurry of violence that will have catastrophic consequences.