On her remote estate, Mme Larina, a widow, lives with her two daughters: one, Tatyana, is of a withdrawn and sensitive disposition, while the other, Olga, brims with insouciance and vitality. As the curtain rises, the two girls sing a nostalgic romance. In the company of Filipyevna, the old nurse, their mother remembers with melancholy her own youthful dreams of love and happiness. She soon had to resign herself to the fact of a conventional marriage. The illusions engendered by the avid reading of sentimental novels have not withstood the realities of daily life.

The peasants celebrate the end of the harvest and pay their respects to Mme Larina. Everyone joins in the general rejoicing. Only Tatyana, deep in her dreams, remains aloof. Olga tries to distract her sister, but like her mother before her, Tatyana is absorbed in the lives of the characters who people her favourite novels.

Filipyevna announces visitors. One is Vladimir Lensky, a young poet and Olga’s suitor. He introduces Eugene Onegin, a neighbour who has recently left St. Petersburg to settle in the country. Tatyana is deeply impressed by the stranger who has the looks and manners of the heroes of her novels. Lensky makes a passionate declaration of love to Olga.

The two men have left. Filipyevna advises Tatyana to go and rest. Greatly agitated, she is unable to sleep. The arrival of Onegin has unleashed a storm of emotions. She tries to confide in her old nurse, who can only respond with tender incomprehension. That very night Tatyana resolves to write a letter to Onegin revealing her love for him. Feverishly, she unburdens her heart, tells of all her desires and hopes. With feelings of relief, though prey to nascent doubts, she has the letter delivered by Filipyevna the next morning.

Filled with anguish and shame, Tatyana awaits Onegin’s reaction to her letter. Eventually he appears. Calmly and coldly, though not unaimiably, he explains that her frank avowal does her credit, but that he is not made for marriage and that there can never be love between them. Advising her to be more discreet in the future, he leaves Tatyana, who is deeply hurt.

She is dragged from her state of confusion by the exuberant Monsieur Triquet, the old French dancing master, and a crowd of friends and neighbours, who have gathered to celebrate her name day according to Larin family tradition. Lensky and his friend Onegin are there. Onegin invites Tatyana to dance. The couple immediately become the focus of the guests’gossip. Onegin becomes increasingly angry, blaming Lensky for having transformed him into an object of curiosity for the amusement of this hidebound and tactless provincial aristocracy. He excites Lensky’s jealousy by flirting more and more openly with Olga. Lensky’s reaction is not long in coming. Desperately he reproaches Olga with her inconstancy. The quarrel grows more acrimonious and, to the consternation of the Larins and their guests, Lensky, beside himself, provokes Onegin to a duel.

Lensky awaits Onegin for the duel. In the grip of dark foreboding, he evokes with melancholy the happy days of the past and his love for Olga. One last time, he tries to put down his feelings for her in writing. Zaretsky, his second, prepares for the encounter scrupulously observing the rules of duelling. Eventually Onegin appears, accompanied by his servant Guillot, whom he has chosen to be his second. Face to face, they realise the absurdity of the situation, but neither is prepared to take the first step towards reconciliation. They stand in position. Onegin fires. Lensky falls and dies in the arms of his friend.

Prince Gremin, a rich aristocrat, comes into Tatyana’s life. At the side of this older man, she quickly becomes the queen of St. Petersburg high society. In this relationship based entirely on respect and mutual trust Tatyana has found inner peace. Onegin, who since Lensky’s death has wandered around the world, is present at an official reception at the Gremins’. He can hardly believe that the elegant princess Gremin is the Tatyana of old. Almost provocatively the prince tells Onegin of the happiness he has found at his wife’s side. He reveals that his cheerless existence has, thanks to her, been transformed. It is now that a deep love for Tatyana is born in Onegin. He writes her a passionate letter and tries everything to win her back. But neither his sighs nor his efforts to seduce her can make her waiver from the fidelity she has sworn to Gremin. Although emotion makes her admit that she still loves him, Onegin must face the fact that he has lost Tatyana. For ever.