This symbolist play opens with Golaud on a walk in the woods when he stumbles upon the beautiful Mélisande. She has lost her crown in a stream, but she doesn't want to get in to get it because she'll be wet and dirty. Golaud falls in love with her and helps her, then asking her to marry him. She does, and Golaud's family loves her for it, especially Golaud's grandfather, the king of Allemonde. Since his health is in decline, he really wants to see Golaud marry and do well.
But then Mélisande falls in love for real, but not with Golaud—with his brother, Pelléas. The meet covertly at a fountain, and Mélisande "accidentally" losing her wedding ring, like she accidentally dropped her crown. But Golaud is no fool. He suspects the couple of an affair. Just to be sure, he asks his son, Ynoild, to spy on them when they sneak away to meet.
When Ynoild inevitably discovers the couple getting handsy in the woods, he tells his father Golaud. Golaud quickly finds the couple and murders his brother, wounding Mélisande badly. It turns out that Mélisande was pregnant, though, and the trauma of the attack causes the premature birth of her baby girl. She dies from the complications of childbirth and from the wound.
