Emilia Galotti, daughter of colonel Odoardo, unwittingly attracts the attention of the depraved and tyrannical prince of Guastalla. The prince and his chamberlain Marinelli make plans to stop her marriage to the Count Appiani, eventually succeeding in shooting Appiani and bringing Emilia to the prince’s palace. Her parents try in vain to intervene and bring Emilia home, but the prince will never allow it.

Emilia decides that she would rather die than remain at the prince's palace, not out of fear that some man is forcing himself upon her, but out of shame that she might eventually succumb to the prince's seductive advances. When she finally has a chance to see her father, she begs him to end her life.

Based on Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s play of the same name.