Act I

As the fiddler plays his sweet melody, Tevye the dairyman introduces his village of Anatevka where he and all the people of the village have lived for generations, doing as their fathers did before them.

At home, Tevye's wife Golde and their five daughters are getting ready for the Sabbath. All excited, Shprintz tells Golde that Yente, the matchmaker, is coming. Golde shoos the girls outside. Yente tells Golde that the widowed Lazar Wolf, a rich butcher, wants to marry Tzeitel, Tevye's eldest.

On his way home Tevye meets Perchik, a student who is full of modern ideas that shock the villagers. Tevye invites Perchick to spend the Sabbath with his family and offers him meals in return for giving lessons to his younger daughters.

Golde urges Tevye to speak with Lazar Wolf after the Sabbath. They meet at the inn, where Lazar receives Tevye's agreement to marry Tzeitel. But Tzeitel is in love with the poor tailor, Motel Kamzoil. The young couple tell Tevye they want to marry. Though shocked at this break with tradition, Tevye eventually agrees and plays a trick on Golde to get her to agree to the wedding.

The village is agog with the news. Even shy Chava, Tevye's middle daughter, comes to market, where she meets the young Christian Russian, Fyedka, who is secretly in love with her.

Tzeitel's marriage is celebrated with great rejoicing but at the height of the merriment, the village constable with his men come to carry out the 'little' disturbance the authorities - may they itch in places they can't scratch - have ordered.

Act II

Two months have passed. Perchik has to leave, but he and Hodel (Tevye's second daughter) are in love. Perchik proposes; Hodel accepts. They did not even ask him, Tevye protests, but he agrees in the end.

Some months later Hodel hears that Perchik has been arrested, tried and exiled to Siberia. She decides to go to him and Tevye takes her to the train station.

More time passes. Fyedka and Chava have been meeting secretly. Now, outside Motel's tailor shop, Chava tells her father they want to be married. Horrified, furious, Tevye refuses even to listen. The next day Golde tells Tevye that the priest has married them.

Worse is in store. A few weeks later the constable comes to Tevye. As the villagers gather round, the constable tells them that he has received the order that all Jews must leave Anatevka within three days. There is no appeal. They pack and prepare to go. As they leave the fiddler plays his sweet and sorrowful tune.