Act One

At the home of the wealthy merchant Zinovy Ismailov, his wife Katerina is intensely bored. She has no children, she's illiterate, and the house is enclosed by a high fence. When Zinovy leaves on a short business trip, the hostile stepfather Boris forces Katerina to swear her marital fidelity before the sacred icon.

Workmen are amusing themselves in the yard of the Ismailov household, pawing the fat cook Aksinya whom they've stuck into a barrel. The recently-hired worker Sergey, who has a reputation as a ladies man, is among them. When Katerina tries to intervene on Aksinya's behalf, she ends up struggling with Sergey, who quickly overpowers her.

At day's end, Katerina is in her room, preparing for bed. She expresses her feelings of loneliness and desire, when suddenly Sergey knocks at her door. He tells her that he's come to borrow a book because he's "dying of boredom." It doesn't take long for Sergey to maneuver himself past Katerina's half-hearted protests, and they become lovers.



Act Two

Boris Ismailov, suffering from insomnia, has wandered out with his lantern to inspect the darkened household, musing on his youthful adventures with the wives of absent husbands. Soon he notices that Katerina's light is on, and decides to "console" the poor woman himself. He catches Sergey escaping from Katerina's room, and flogs him 400 times in punishment.

After the flogging, Boris is hungry for replenishment. He demands that Katerina prepare him some mushrooms, and these she laces with rat poison, causing Boris to fall into horrible seizures. As he dies, he tells the workmen to summon Zinovy. A priest administers the last rites, and no one yet suspects Katerina.

In Katerina's room, she and Sergey are making love upon her gigantic bed. Sergey confesses the depth of his devotion, and Katerina vows to marry him. The ghost of Boris appears, and casts his curse upon Katerina. She hears Zinovy approaching, Sergey conceals himself. Zinovy enters demanding to know what's happened during his absence, and he begins to beat her. Sergey reveals himself. The lovers strangle Zinovy and hide his corpse in the cellar. "Now you are my husband," she says ominously as they embrace.



Act Three

A guilty compulsion draws Katerina towards the cellar, against Sergey's warnings. It is the day Sergey and Katerina are to be married. The pair exit. A peasant has meanwhile noticed the two hanging around the cellar. Thinking to find the house's choice store of liquor, he breaks in, only to discover the body of the murdered Zinovy, and runs off to fetch the police.

At the police station, there is discontent: the bribes aren't coming in, they're bored, they havn't been invited to the "hussy's" wedding feast. "I'll get even with her" the sergeant swears. To entertain themselves, they're taunting an arrested Socialist-Nihilist, who cries "Sorry, god does exist, God does exist!" in defense. When the peasant arrives with the news of the murder, they are overjoyed: at last they have something to do. They rush off, expressing hopes of "free food and liquor" and maybe to "stuff ourselves until we're sick".

The wedding reception is laid out in the garden of the Ismailov house. The guests are already drunk. "Long live the happy pair!" Even the priest encourages the newlyweds, saying "Katerina Lvovna is fairer than the sun in the sky" Suddenly, Katerina sees the broken lock on the cellar door. Before the two can escape, the police arrive, disappointed the wine is all gone, and Katerina makes a complete confession. The policemen beat Sergey with happy zeal and drag away the bound Katerina.



Act Four

Siberia. Two long chain gangs of convicts are marching, Sergey and Katerina among them, although the men are separated from the women. They stop on the bank of a forest lake to spend the night. Katerina bribes the sentry Stepanych to let her near Sergey, but Sergey has lost his love for her, blames her for everything and now dotes on a beautiful young convict named Sonyetka. Sergey weasels some stockings out of Katerina, and they taunt her to despair, while the rest of the bored convicts join in. Finally, Katerina snaps: she throws herself into the lake, dragging along Sonyetka, and both drown. The opera ends with the convicts' lament over the darkness of human fate.



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