Cho-Cho San (Butterfly), a young Japanese girl, marries Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, a young U.S. Navy lieutenant and is denounced by her family for forsaking their ancestral religion. When he leaves her to return to his world, Butterfly confidently and patiently awaits his homecoming. Three years later, Pinkerton's ship finally anchors in the harbor again, but Butterfly does not get the happy ending she was hoping for.