After a brief prelude, the opera begins with a homesick English soldier who is tired of fighting in the Hundred Years’ War with France. He and Father Julien, a priest who sympathizes with Joan, discuss the imprisoned Joan and her stubbornness. As a chorus of Inquisitors sing in the background, the scene changes to find Pierre Cauchon, the severe, prejudiced, English-leaning Bishop of Beauvais. Cauchon warns Father Julien of his empathy towards Joan. While Joan was tried for heresy, the technical charge was for dressing as a man. Cauchon instructs Father Julien to take a dress to Joan in her prison cell to see if she will finally submit to their authority by dressing as a woman.

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Father Julien arrives to find a drunken jailer attacking Joan, who is fighting back. Father Julien is angered and orders the jailer to leave. Joan is justifiably angry. He counsels her to repent of her sins and to put on the dress. Joan is indignant. “To what sins must I admit? My love and faith in France, the commands of my voices?  Never!...Shall I put on a female dress surrounded by the evil men who guard me?...” Father Julien pleads with Joan to be more flexible, less willful, show more humility, and warns her that her bold claim of knowing the will of God is blasphemous. He wishes her to submit to authority so she can live. Joan vows to pray and look inward to determine if pride is her sin, and if it is, she will repent.

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An orchestral interlude sets the scene for the trial, after which the raucous spectators enter the court to await the spectacle. Cauchon enters and silences the crowd. He then speaks of his position and cautions all that Joan’s behavior challenges the established order of the world. “She is a greater menace than she knows”.  As the trial begins, Joan is in shackles and is not wearing the dress. The inquisitors sing of her heresy and the people sing of her faith. Cauchon acts as the prosecutor and judge, and Joan defends herself heroically. Eventually, Joan shows fear at the sight of the Executioner and by the thought of being burned alive. In that moment of dread, she yields to her fear of being burned alive and confesses to her “crimes”. Suddenly, the voices speak to her and give her the courage to find eternal freedom through the fire. All fear is gone, she recants her coerced confession, and asks for the fire to be lit.

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Cauchon, the upholder of sacred laws, commands the Executioner to do his duty. A soldier hands Joan a crucifix made of twigs as the flames begin to rise. The people pray for her soul while Joan sings of her beloved country and of God’s glory as she’s enveloped in flames.