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Act I a 1950’s Italian/American wedding reception. Everyone is congratulating the bride-groom “Gian” and everyone is waiting for the bride, “Julie” to arrive.
She arrives and the party comes to full swing and they sing a ‘Drinking Song’. The crowd toasts the new couple. All except one man, Chris.
Gian takes Julie out onto the balcony where they exchange words of love which change to words of jealousy on the part of Gian because of Chris, who we find out was Julie’s ex-boyfriend. He feels Chris will stop at nothing to get Julie, even though she is now married. Julie tells him he has some nerve believing that. He apologizes and a grand duet ensues.
Chris comes out onto the balcony and wants to speak to Julie alone. Gian hesitates, but Julie tells him it will be all right. Chris tells her that even though things did not work out between them, he wishes Gian and her good fortune. He asks if he can give her a good luck kiss, which she concedes. Gian enters, sees this kiss, then plans revenge.
He asks Julie to come inside so that they can lead the people into the tarantella. Chris stays outside and sings his lament about how he still loves her deeply, then enters the ballroom where Gian and Julie are dancing but then Gian has someone else dance with Julie so that he can go over to Chris.
He leads him outside onto the balcony where a fight ensues and Chris staggers to the ground dead with a knife jabbed in his gut. Gian then proceeds to Julie telling her that this dead boyfriend is his wedding present to her and that Julie’s marrying him was all a plot just to get at Gian’s money. He throws his wedding ring at Julie, and then calls her a whore. The crowd goes ballistic. Gian is punched by one of the guests until police arrive and haul him away while the crowd is screaming “Throw the bastard out!”.
Act II is in Gian’s jail cell where we see a scruffy looking person who sings that Julie should also be in jail for raping him of his life. She is to blame.
Julie’s friend, Anna, comes to visit with Gian. She tells him that the kiss that she saw was one of good luck, not romance.
Gian feels repentant and Anna tells him that she has arranged for him to escape but that he must be back before dawn.
Next scene is in Julie’s house, where we see her on a bed. We see Gian sneaking in through the opposite end window and he goes over to Julie only when she says that she forgives him and that she has alwaysed loved him.
She dies, and then we hear the sound of sirens. The police have noticed Gian’s disappearance and bang on the door. Gian goes over to Julie’s dresser, pulls out a scissors, and just as he is about to plunge it into his stomach, the police shoot Gian in the legs, preventing him from committing suicide.
Gian is hauled off to prison yelling “Let me die! Let me die!”
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