ACT ONE

A small Village in the Rhine Valley.
By tradition at harvest time, the villagers gather at a different house each day to taste the new wine. We find them gathered at the cottage of the peasant girl Giselle. Count Albrecht, Duke of Silesia, has fallen in love with Giselle. He disguises himself as a peasant in order to court her.
Hillarion, a gamekeeper, who also loves Giselle, suspects the true identity of his rival and warns her to be wary of the stranger. The peasants return with the last of the grape harvest and join in a dance with Giselle and the disguised Count. Laughing off her mother`s warnings that her passion for dancing might be endangering her life, Giselle is crowned Queen of the Vine.
A hunting party led by the duke of Courland with his daughter Bathilde, stops at Giselle`s cottage to rest. Hillarion, learning that Bathilde is betrothed to Court Albrecht, reveals the truth to Giselle. The shock is too great for her and she dies, heartbroken.

ACT TWO

Giselle`s grave by a pool in the forest.
Midnight. The hour when the Wilis, the ghosts of young women who have died of a broken heart, appear to waylay unwary men and dance them to death. Count Albrecht and Hillarion come to grieve at Giselle`s grave. The Wilis are commanded by their Queen Myrtha to dance with two men, Hilillarion cannot escape their spell and dies, but Count Albrecht is saved from Myrtha the Wilis by Giselle`s abiding love for him. He manages to dance until dawn, when power of the Wilis fades, and escapes, taking his love of Giselle forever.