ACT I
Mireille's friends gently tease her about having fallen in love with Vincent, the mere son of a basket-weaver, and the good witch Taven warns her that wealth and poverty are ill-matched. Vincent eloquently voices his love to Mireille and the two agree to meet at the chapel of the Saintes-Maries should danger befall either of them.
ACT II
The bull-tamer Ourrias tries to court Mireille but is rebuffed. She goes on to reveal her love for a boy from a lower class to her father, the wealthy farmer Maître Ramon. He vows that Mireille will never see Vincent again.
ACT III
In a fit of jealousy, Ourrias strikes the unarmed Vincent and for this ignoble act is drowned by a ghostly ferryman on the river Rhône. Taven ministers to Vincent's wounds.
ACT IV
Despite asssurances given to her of Vincent's safety, Mireille decides to undertake a pilgrimage across the Crau desert to the Saintes Maries. Exhausted by her journey, she sees a mirage of a city on the edge of a lake. She collapses, but sheperd's pipes in the distance revive her.
ACT V (original version)
At the chapel Vincent is the first to appear. Stumbling in on the point of death, Mireille is ecstatic at being reunited with him and has a vision of the sky opening to receive her. She dies, but her soul is summoned upward by a celestial voice.
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