ACT I. At night, outside the Commendatore’s palace, Leporello complains about his duties as a servant to Don Giovanni, a dissolute nobleman. Soon, the masked Don appears, pursued by Donna Anna, the Commendatore’s daughter, whom he has tried to seduce. When the Commendatore himself answers Anna’s cries, he is killed in a duel by Giovanni, who escapes. Anna now returns with her fiancé, Don Ottavio. Finding her father dead, she makes Ottavio swear vengeance on the assassin.
At dawn, Giovanni flirts with a high-strung traveller outside a tavern. She turns out to be Donna Elvira, a woman he recently seduced in Burgos, who is on his trail. Giovanni escapes while Leporello distracts Elvira by reciting his master’s long catalogue of conquests. Peasants arrive, celebrating the nuptials of their friends Zerlina and Masetto; when Giovanni joins in, he pursues the bride, angering the groom, who is removed by Leporello. Alone with Zerlina, the Don charms her, but Elvira interrupts and protectively whisks the girl away. While Giovanni is greeting the mourning Anna and Ottavio, Elvira returns once again to denounce him as a seducer. Declaring Elvira mad, he leads her off. Anna, having recognised his voice, realises Giovanni was her attacker.
Preparing for the wedding feast he has planned for the peasants, Giovanni exuberantly quaffs champagne.
Outside the palace, Zerlina begs Masetto to forgive her apparent infidelity. Masetto hides when the Don appears, then emerges from the shadows as Giovanni corners Zerlina. The three enter the palace together. Elvira, Anna and Ottavio arrive in masks and are invited to the feast by Leporello.
During the festivities, Leporello entices Masetto into the dance as Giovanni draws Zerlina out of the room. When the girl’s cries for help, Giovanni tries to blame Leporello. But no one is convinced; Elvira, Anna and Ottavio unmask and confront Giovanni, who barely escapes with his life.
ACT II. Under Elvira’s balcony, Leporello exchanges clothes with Giovanni to woo Elvira in his master’s stead. Leporello leads Elvira off, leaving the Don free to serenade Elvira’s maid. When Masetto passes with a band of armed peasants bent on punishing Giovanni, the disguised rake gives them false directions, then beats up Masetto. Zerlina arrives and tenderly consoles her betrothed.
In a passageway, Elvira and Leporello are surprised by Anna, Ottavio, Zerlina and Masetto, who, mistaking servant for master, threaten Leporello. Frightened, he unmasks and escapes. When Anna departs, Ottavio affirms his confidence in their love. Leporello catches up with his master in a cemetery, where a voice warns Giovanni of his doom. It is the statue of the Commendatore, which the Don proposes Leporello invite to dinner. When the servant reluctantly stammers an invitation, the statue accepts.
In her home, Anna, still in mourning, puts off Ottavio’s offer of marriage until her father is avenged.
Leporello is serving Giovanni’s dinner when Elvira rushes in, begging the Don, whom she still loves, to reform. But he waves her out contemptuously. At the door, her screams announce the arrival of the Commendatore’s statue. Giovanni boldly refuses warnings to repent, even in the face of death. Flames engulf him, and the sinner is dragged to hell.
Among the castle ruins, the others plan their future and recite the moral: such is the fate of a wrongdoer.