It’s Christmas Eve and snow is falling on Paris. The young poet, Rodolfo, shares a cold garret with his three student friends. Mimì, a seamstress, arrives at the door seeking a light for her candle so Rodolfo invites her inside. Before long, the two declare their love. The students take Mimi to the Café Momus in the Latin Quarter. There, they come across Musetta, Marcello’s ex-girlfriend. Amid the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, Musetta manages to steal the scene and get her rich ‘friend’, Alcindoro, to pick up the bill for all of them. With her constant coughing, the students soon realise that Mimì is unwell; it is clearly tuberculosis. Back in the garret, the friends rally round to buy medicine for the ailing Mimì but, alas, it is too late.