ACT I - A tempest near an enchanted island. Alonso, King of Naples, his son Ferdinand, Antonio, Duke of Milan and their court are shipwrecked. They magically reach the island. All this has been engineered by Prospero, a magician, who lives in the island with his daughter Miranda. Prospero was the former Duke of Milan, sent in exhile from his dukedom by his brother Antonio. Prospero had reached the island, refuge of the witch Sycorax, who lived there with her son Caliban, a strange creature of brute intelligence and Ariel, a gentle spirit of the air, imprisoned by Sycorax in a pine tree. Prospero, arrived in the island, had succeeded in overcoming Sycorax, had released Ariel, who had become his agent and used Caliban as a servant.
ACT II - King Alonso is in despair because he is convinced that his son has drowned. Ferdinand, however, has survived and wanders through another part of the island, moved by Ariel's singing. He meets Miranda and falls in love with her.
ACT III - Prospero tests Ferdinand.
ACT IV - This act is a sort of interlude where Miranda and Ferdinand entertain each other while Prospero completes his plans of reward and punishment.
ACT V - the play ends in an atmosphere of general reconciliation. Miranda and Ferdinand marry, Prospero forgives his brother and returns to Milan to take possession of his lost dukedom. Caliban is left alone on the island and Ariel is released.