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Rome is suffering under the violent hand of police chief Scarpia. The city’s former consul, Cesare Angelotti, is hiding from him in a chapel, where the painter Mario Cavaradossi is working on a painting of the Madonna. His lover, the celebrated opera singer Floria Tosca, seeks him out and accidentally discovers Angelotti’s hiding place.
Scarpia has set his sights on Tosca. He captures Cavaradossi and tortures him to extract Angelotti’s hiding place. Cavaradossi manages to persevere, but when Tosca hears her lover suffering from the beatings, she breaks down and tells Scarpia everything. Scarpia promises to spare Cavaradossi, if she does everything he asks. Cavaradossi will then only be executed for show, to save Scarpia from losing face. Tosca agrees to his proposal, but when Scarpia demands his reward, she stabs him with a dagger.
Cavaradossi awaits the firing squad, yet Tosca looks forward to the execution with a clear conscience – after all, it is only a sham, right? However, when Cavaradossi lies lifeless on the ground after the gunfire, Tosca understands that Scarpia has betrayed her horribly. The guards arrive to arrest her for Scarpia’s murder and she sees but one way out. She jumps from the castle wall, facing certain death.
