She's a dreamer: simple, sweet, and shy. She calls herself Mimì, even though it's not actually her name. She spends her days embroidering flowers and her nights longing for springtime. And she is very much alone and on her own. Literally in search of light - a match for her only candle - she instead finds happiness and friendship with a band of young Parisian bohemians - a handsome but insecure poet, a philosopher, a painter, a musician, and a good-time girl. Briefly, Mimì and Rodolfo make a place of love for themselves - until jealousy and poverty prevail. Eventually she succumbs to tuberculosis - the scourge of the underclass - but she is never consumed by self-pity, and she dies surrounded by those who love her.

La bohème is Puccini at his most tender and sympathetic. He loves these foolish young Parisians because he was once a struggling bohemian just like them. He understands their happiness and pain, and he is never judgmental. His music pierces our hearts with its beauty and directness. For generations, La bohème has been the best first opera, the best date opera, and, for many, the best opera.