A young man referred to simply as the Bridegroom enters his home and tells his mother that he’s going out to their vineyard to cut grapes. This makes his mother anxious, as she curses the invention of knives and anything that “can cut a man’s body.” Going on in this manner, she reminisces about the death of the Bridegroom’s father and brother, both of whom were murdered by members of the Felix family. She complains about the fact that the murderers have only been imprisoned and thus are still alive, a punishment she finds unsatisfactory. “Are you going to stop?” the Bridegroom asks, wanting to change the subject, though she continues to talk about violence and death, saying she doesn’t like it when he leaves the house because she fears something will happen to him. Eventually, the Bridegroom succeeds in distracting her by talking about his plans to get married. When he brings this up, his mother expresses her happiness for him, though she points out that she doesn’t know the young woman and that the entire ordeal is moving quite fast. Still, she says she knows the Bride is “good,” and she agrees to meet her and her father that Sunday to make the wedding plans official.
When the Bridegroom leaves, a neighbor enters and speaks to his mother, who asks if she knows anything about the girl her son is about to marry. The neighbor explains that the Bride is an attractive young woman who lives far away with her father. The girl’s mother is dead, the neighbor says, adding that the Bride’s mother never loved her husband. Lastly, she informs the Bridegroom’s mother that the Bride was in a serious relationship with Leonardo Felix. In fact, they almost got married, but then Leonardo ended up marrying the girl’s cousin. Hearing this, the old woman is distraught, bemoaning the fact that her son’s Bride has been associated with the Felix family, but the neighbor tells her to be reasonable, pointing out that Leonardo was only eight years old when the violence between their families took place.
In the following scene, Leonardo’s wife and mother-in-law try to quiet Leonardo’s baby by singing a lullaby about a horse who refuses to drink from a stream because its hooves are bleeding into the water. Not long after the baby finally goes down, Leonardo enters and claims that he’s been at the blacksmith’s getting new horseshoes, since his horse frequently ruins his shoes. When his wife suggests that this happens because he overworks the horse, Leonardo claims he “hardly ever ride[s] him.” However, his wife says that her neighbors claimed to have seen him the previous day on “the other side of the plains,” which is quite far away. Nevertheless, Leonardo denies this, though his mother-in-law catches a glimpse of the horse and points out that it looks as if it has “come from the end of the world.” Seeing her husband’s anger mount, the wife changes the subject by telling him that the Bridegroom is asking for her cousin’s hand in marriage. Unfortunately, though, this only puts him in a worse mood. When his mother-in-law suggests that the Bridegroom’s mother isn’t “very happy about the wedding,” he says, “That one needs watching,” referring to the Bride. Just then, a young girl enters and tells them that she saw the Bridegroom and his mother buying extravagant gifts for the Bride, and when she begins to describe the stockings they bought, Leonardo snaps at her, saying, “We couldn’t care less.” He then storms out of the house, waking the baby as he goes.
On Sunday, the Bridegroom and his mother travel four hours to meet with the Bride and her father. When the father enters, he immediately begins talking about his land, proudly saying that he has had to “punish it” in order to make it yield esparto crops, since it’s so dry. Hearing how interested in land he is, the Bridegroom’s mother assures him they won’t be asking for anything in the way of a dowry, since their vineyards are already so prosperous. The father then fantasizes about joining their land, saying he’d love to see all of their property “together,” which would be “a thing of beauty.” Going on, the two parents agree that the wedding should take place on the following Thursday, which is also the Bride’s twenty-second birthday. “That’s what my son would have been if he were still alive,” the mother notes, but the father tells her not to “dwell” on such morbid matters, though she assures him she’ll think about it “every minute” until she dies.
Before long, the Bride enters and accepts the gifts from the Bridegroom’s mother. As she does so, the mother notices that she’s quite solemn, so she takes her chin in her hand and says, “You know what getting married is, Child?” When the Bride says she does, the Bridegroom’s mother lists what she believes marriage entails, saying, “A man, children, and as for the rest a wall that’s two feet thick.” Agreeing with this, the Bride says, “I know my duty,” and the Bridegroom and his mother take their leave. Alone, the Bride’s servant urges her to open her gifts, but the Bride is uninterested in these material items. “For God’s sake!” the servant cries. “It’s as if you have no wish to get married.” She then reveals that she saw Leonardo on his horse the night before, saying that she saw him by the Bride’s window. At first, the Bride denies this, calling the servant a liar, but she soon gives up this act and admits that the servant is right—Leonardo was there.
On the morning of the wedding, the servant helps the Bride get ready. When she tries to affix a wreath of orange blossoms (which the Bridegroom got her) to her hair, though, the Bride tosses the flowers on the floor. “Child! Don’t tempt fate by throwing the flowers on the floor!” the servant says. “Don’t you want to get married?” Instead of answering, the Bride only references a “cold wind” moving through her, though she then says she loves the Bridegroom. “But it’s a very big step,” she adds. Shortly thereafter, Leonardo arrives and enters the room. He is the first wedding guest to come, and the servant tells the Bride not to let him see her in her undergarments, though she ignores this and has an intense conversation with her former lover, who notes that the Bridegroom should have gotten her a smaller orange blossom, which would “suit her better.” They then fall into an impassioned argument about the fact that the Bride refused to marry Leonardo when they were together because he wasn’t rich enough. As a result, Leonardo married her cousin, but he has never stopped thinking about her. Now, though, he knows he must tell her how he feels, since she’s about to marry. “To keep quiet and burn is the greatest punishment we can heap upon ourselves,” he says when she tells him her plan to “shut [herself] away” with the Bridegroom and “love him above everything.” And though she wants to remain strong, she admits that the mere sound of his voice weakens her willpower, at which point the servant forces Leonardo to leave.
Soon enough, the Bridegroom and the wedding guests stream into the house. Going to her future husband, the Bride expresses her desire to speed the wedding along, saying, “I want to be your wife and be alone with you and not hear any other voice but yours.” She also says she wants him to “hold” her so tightly that she won’t be able to free herself even if she wants to. With this, the couple sets out for the church, and the guests sing about the joyous occasion as they follow. When everybody is gone, Leonardo’s wife expresses her frustration that he doesn’t seem to care about her, indicating that she knows she’s been “thrown aside,” though he does nothing to make her feel better.
After the ceremony, the married couple and their guests return to the Bride’s father’s house, where they dance and make merry. As the party begins, the Bridegroom’s mother talks to the Bride’s father about the prospect of having grandchildren. The father, for his part, is especially excited for his son to have children, since this will mean he’ll have more people to work on his farm. As happy conversations like these take place, the Bride remains sullen and unenthused, eventually excusing herself to lie down because she has a headache. Shortly thereafter, Leonardo’s wife comes rushing through the party looking for Leonardo, and the crowd discovers that the two ex-lovers have eloped, riding off into the woods on a horse. Hearing this, the Bridegroom’s mother urges the Bride’s father to round up his family members to chase Leonardo down. “The hour of blood has come again,” she says.
Deep in the woods, several woodcutters talk about the runaway lovers, filling the role of a traditional Greek chorus. Although these woodcutters want the Bride and Leonardo to escape unharmed, a personified version of the moon soon appears and reveals its desire to shed light upon the forest so that the lovers won’t go undetected. What’s more, an old beggar woman who represents death (according to Lorca’s stage note) appears and asserts that Leonardo and the Bride will not make it past the nearby stream. Soon, the Bridegroom and a young man ride up and talk about the chase. When his helper suggests that they turn back, the Bridegroom says he can’t because of his family’s history with the Felix family. At this point, he stumbles into the beggar woman, who joins the search for Leonardo and the Bride. Just as they leave, though, the lovers emerge and talk about the dangers of what they’ve done. The Bride regrets running away, but only because doing so has endangered Leonardo. Nevertheless, they both decide that nothing but death will “separate” them. Moments after they leave, two piercing screams fill the dark woods.
After the wedding, three little girls play with a bundle of red yarn and discuss what happened, wondering why none of the guests have returned from the ceremony. Finally, the old beggar woman appears and tells them that the Bridegroom and Leonardo have both died. When she and the little girls leave, the Bridegroom’s mother and her neighbor enter and discuss the tragedy. “All of them are dead now,” the mother says. “At midnight I’ll sleep, I’ll sleep and not be afraid of a gun or a knife.” As she mourns, she refuses to cry, not wanting her other neighbors—who are beginning to enter the room—to see her fall apart. However, when the Bride arrives, she finds it difficult to withhold her anger. “You would have gone too,” the young woman insists. “I was a woman burning, full of pain inside and out, and your son was a tiny drop of water that I hoped would give me children, land, health.” Continuing, she says that Leonardo was like a “dark river” that swept her away. Unable to stop herself, the Bridegroom’s mother slaps the Bride, who readily accepts this punishment, telling the old woman that she merely wants to weep with her. As such, the Bridegroom’s mother says she can cry by the door, admitting that nothing “matter[s]” to her anymore. At this point, the two women begin to speak in verse, trading lines and bemoaning the loss of their loved ones as people file in and sob.
