In a remote Spanish town, the free-spirited Carmen declares that any man she loves should beware. But even she is unprepared for what happens when she decides to seduce police officer Don Jose. Though initially uninterested in Carmen's charms, Don Jose - against the wishes of his mother and of Micaëla, the woman who loves him - soon abandons his respectable career for a life of danger with Carmen, joining her and her smuggler friends as they outrun the law. But Carmen quickly wearies of Don Jose's possessiveness, longing to return to her life of independence. When she turns her attention to the celebrated toreador Escamillo, Don Jose's jealousy and despair threaten to violently erupt.