At the gates of Madrid sit Don Guan and his servant Leporello. They are going to wait here for the night to enter the city under her cover. Careless Don Guan believes that he will not be recognized in the city, but the sober Leporello is sarcastically disposed about this. However, no danger can stop Don Guan. He is sure that the king, having learned of his unauthorized return from exile, will not execute him, that the king sent him into exile in order to save the nobleman who he had killed from revenge. But he is unable to stay in exile for a long time, and most of all he is dissatisfied with the women there, who seem to him wax dolls.
Looking around, Don Guan finds out the area. This is the Anthony Monastery, where he met with his beloved Ineza, who turned out to be a jealous husband. Don Guan describes her features and sad eyes with poetic inspiration. Leporello reassures him that Don Guan had and will still be lovers. He wonders who this time his master will be looking for in Madrid. Don Guan intends to seek Laura. While Don Guan is dreaming, a monk appears, who, seeing the visitors, wonders if they are people of Don Anna, who is about to come here to the grave of her husband, Commander de Solva, who was killed in a duel by the “unscrupulous, godless Don Guan” , as the monk calls him, not suspecting that he is talking to Don Guan himself. He says that the widow erected a monument to her husband and every day he comes to pray for the peace of his soul. Don Guan thinks the widow’s behavior is strange, and he wonders if she’s good. He asks for permission to speak with her, but the monk replies that Don Anna does not speak with men. And at this time, Don Anna appears, the Monk unlocks the grate, and it passes, so that Don Guan does not have time to examine it, but his imagination, which, according to Leporello, is “more agile than a painter,” can draw her portrait. Don Guan decides to meet Don Anna, Leporello is ashamed of his sacrilege. During conversations it gets dark, and the lord with the servant enters Madrid.
Guests have dinner in Laura’s room and admire her talent and inspired acting. They ask Laura to sing. Even the sullen Carlos seems to be touched by her singing, but when he learns that the words of this song were written by Don Guan, who was Laura’s lover, Don Carlos calls him an atheist and a bastard. The angry Laura shouts that she is now ordering her servants to kill Carlos, even though he is a Spanish grand. Fearless Don Carlos is ready, but the guests soothe them. Laura believes that the reason for Carlos’s brutal trick is that Don Guan killed Don Carlos's brother in an honest duel. Don Carlos admits that he was wrong, and they put up. Singing another song at the general request, Laura says goodbye to the guests, but asks Don Carlos to stay. She says that with his temperament, he reminded her of Don Guan. Laura and Don Carlos are talking, and at this time there is a knock and someone calls Laura. Laura unlocks and Don Guan enters. Carlos, hearing this name, calls himself and requires an immediate fight. Despite Laura’s protests, the grandees fight and Don Guan kills Don Carlos. Laura is confused, but, having learned that Don Guan had just secretly returned to Madrid and immediately rushed to her, softens.
Having killed Don Carlos, Don Guan in a monastic form hides in the Anthony Monastery and, standing at the commander’s monument, thanks his fate that she thus gave him the opportunity to see the lovely Don Anna every day. He intends to talk to her today and hopes that he will be able to attract her attention. Looking at the statue of the commander, Don Guan is ironic that the murdered man is represented here as a giant, although he was puny in life. Don Anna enters and notices a monk. She asks for forgiveness that prevented him from praying, to which the monk replies that it was his fault before her, because her grief was prevented from “freely pouring out”; he admires her beauty and angelic meekness. Such speeches surprise and confuse Don Anna, and the monk unexpectedly admits that nobleman Diego de Calvada, a victim of an unhappy passion for her, is hiding under this dress. With fiery speeches, Don Guan persuades Don Anna not to drive him, and embarrassed Don Anna invites him to come to her house the next day, provided that he will be modest. Don Anna leaves, and Don Guan demands that Leporello invite the commander’s statue for tomorrow’s meeting. To the timid Leporello, it seems that the statue nods in response to this sacrilegious offer. Don Guan himself repeats his invitation, and the statue nods again. The startled Don Guan and Leporello leave.
Don Anna in her house talking with Don Diego. She admits that Don Alwar was not her chosen one, that her mother forced her to this marriage. Don Diego is jealous of the commander, who in return for empty wealth got true bliss. Such speeches confuse Don Anna. She reproaches her with the thought of a late husband who would never have welcomed a lady in love if he were a widower. Don Diego asks her not to torment his heart with eternal reminders of her husband, although he deserves execution. Don Anna is interested in what exactly Don Diego was guilty of, and in response to her insistent requests, Don Guan reveals to her his real name, the name of the murderer of her husband. Don Anna is amazed and, under the influence of what happened, loses her senses. Recovering, she drives Don Guan. Don Guan agrees that rumor does not in vain portray him as a villain, but assures that he was reborn, having experienced love for her. As a pledge of farewell before separation, he asks to give him a cold peaceful kiss. Don Anna kisses him, and Don Guan comes out, but immediately runs back. Following him is a statue of the commander who appeared at the call. The commander accuses Don Guan of cowardice, but he boldly reaches out for a handshake to a stone sculpture, from which he perishes with the name of Don Anna on his lips.
