Hèdre is queen but doesn't love the king. She prefers his son Hippolytus, whom he had from a first marriage, to Theseus. A guilty love, hidden by feigned hatred, that makes her suffer and perish, and that she can't keep from confessing as soon as she hears of the king's death. But Hippolyte doesn't love her. And the monarch is only wounded. Ashamed, the queen can no longer look at him. Oenone, her confidante, tries to save her by making the king believe that the outrage comes from his son. Fanned by Theseus, the fury of the gods strikes Hippolytus. The adulteress kills herself.