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Place: A Moravian village
Time: the nineteenth century
The plot depends on a tangled set of village relationships. Before the opera begins, the mill-owner Grandmother Buryja's two sons have both married twice, fathered children, and died. Their wives have also died, except for the Kostelnicka (widow of the churchwarden), the younger son's second wife and Jenufa's stepmother. Custom dictates that only Števa, the elder son's child by his second marriage, will inherit the mill, leaving his half-brother Laca and cousin Jenufa to earn their livings.
Act 1
Jenufa, Laca, and Grandmother Buryja wait for Števa to return home. Jenufa, in love with Števa and secretly pregnant with his child, worries that he may have been drafted into the army. Laca, in love with Jenufa, expresses bitterness against his half-brother's favored position at home. As he complains he plays with a knife and, finding it blunt, gives it to the mill foreman to be sharpened.
The foreman informs the family that Števa has not been drafted, to Jenufa's relief and Laca's increased frustration. The others leave, and Jenufa waits to greet Števa. He appears with a group of soldiers, drunk and boasting of his prowess with the girls. He calls for music and drags the miserable Jenufa into dancing with him.
The Kostelnicka steps into this rowdy scene, silences the musicians and, shocked by Števa's behavior, forbids him to marry Jenufa until he can stay sober for one full year. The soldiers and the family leave Števa and Jenufa alone, and she begs him to love her, but he, unaware of her pregnancy, gives her casual answers and leaves.
Laca returns, as bitter as ever. He attempts to goad Jenufa into criticizing Števa, but she takes her lover's side despite everything. Laca rages that Števa would never even look at her if it weren't for her rosy cheeks, then slashes her across the cheek with his knife.
Act 2
Months later, it is winter. The baby has been born, but Števa has not yet come to visit his child. Jenufa's face is still disfigured, but she is happy in her love for the baby. While Jenufa sleeps, the Kostelnicka summons Števa and demands that he take responsibility. He answers that while he will provide money in secret, no one must know the baby is his. His love for Jenufa died when Laca spoiled her beauty, and he is now engaged to marry Karolka, the mayor's pretty daughter.
Števa leaves, and Laca enters. He still doesn't know the truth about the baby, and when the Kostelnicka tells him, his first reaction is disgust at the thought of taking Števa's child under his wing. Fearful that Jenufa will be left with no one to marry, Kostelnicka hastily lies that the baby is dead. Laca leaves, and the Kostelnicka is faced with the necessity of making the lie true. She wraps the baby in a shawl and leaves the house.
Jenufa wakes up and says a prayer for her child's future, but the Kostelnicka, returning, tells her that the baby died while she slept. Laca appears and comforts Jenufa gently, asking that they spend the rest of their lives together. Seeing the tenderness of the couple, the Kostelnicka tries to convince herself that she has acted for the best.
Act 3
It is now spring, and Laca and Jenufa's wedding day. All seems right again, except that the Kostelnicka is a nervous wreck. Števa and Karolka visit, and a chorus of village girls sings a wedding song. Just then, screams are heard. The body of the baby has been discovered in the mill-stream under the melting ice. Jenufa immediately says that the baby is hers, and in her grief appears guilty of the murder. The village is ready to exact immediate justice against Jenufa, but the Kostelnicka calms them and says that the crime is hers. Hearing the whole story, Jenufa forgives her stepmother. The crowd takes the Kostelnicka off to jail. Jenufa and Laca are left alone. Jenufa asks Laca to leave her, as she cannot expect him to marry her now. He replies that he will not leave her, and that he wishes to spend the rest of his life with her.
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