ACT I
On a sunny afternoon in a wooded glen, a Forester pauses on the way home to take a nap under a tree. Insects dance around him and a frog chases a mosquito. The frog catches the attention of the young Vixen, and while trying to escape her, wakes the Forester. The Forester captures the Vixen and decides to take her home for his children. Some time has passed and, in the Forester’s yard, the Vixen talks with Lapák the Dog. After warding off Lapák’s advances and being tormented by the Forester’s children, the Vixen is tied up and dreams of when she was young. The Vixen admonishes the Hens for their devotion to the Cock, who she attacks and then escapes into the woods.
ACT II
Back in the woods, the Vixen chases away the Badger and takes over his home. In the Inn, the Schoolmaster, the Priest, and the Forester play cards. The Forester taunts the Schoolmaster about his forthcoming marriage to a woman other than Tarynka, whom he truly loves. ('Bývalo') In turn the Schoolmaster teases him about the Vixen’s escape. As each of the men make their way home, they are tormented by the Vixen: she hides behind a sunflower, which the Schoolmaster mistakes for Tarynka and falls over a fence when he tries to embrace her; she observes the Priest as he remembers his seduction by a girl when he was in school; and the Forester searches for her wildly. Later the Vixen finds a young boy fox and they fall in love and are soon married.
ACT III
The poacher Harašta , who is soon to marry Tarynka, finds a dead hare. ('Déź sem vandroval') The Forester approaches and warns Harašta against poaching, but when he sees that the hare has been killed by the Vixen, he sets a trap for her. After both Harašta and the Forester leave, the Vixen arrives with her mate and their cubs ('Bĕží liška k Táboru') and they recognize the Forester’s trap. Harašta returns carrying a large basket of food. The Vixens lures him away so that she and her family are able to eat his food. Angered, Harašta fires his gun wildly into the forest. The foxes scatter but the Vixen is hit and dies. Back at the Inn, the Schoolmaster laments Tarynka’s wedding, the Priest, who has since moved away to a new parish, has written to say that he is lonely, and the Forester complains about getting old and leaves to go take a nap. As the Forester is walking home in the woods he is reminded of the past; of picking mushrooms with his wife on their honeymoon as well as the day he first met the Vixen. He falls asleep under a tree and the animals from the opening scene return. ('Je to pohádka ci pravda?') He dreams of a vixen cub that looks exactly as the Vixen did the first day he saw her. As he reaches for her, a frog jumps on him, and he is reminded of the cycle of nature.
