Synopsis
Prologue
In AD 2195, the 12th Symposium on the Republic of Gilead is meeting via videoconference. The Republic was formed after Christian fundamentalists assassinated the President and the Congress in order to establish a dictatorship based on Biblical principles. Women in the Republic have no right to work or own property. Women who live in sin are taken to Red Centres where they are indoctrinated as Handmaids by Aunts. The Handmaids are sent to barren households, where they are required to be ritually impregnated once a month. Professor Pieixoto introduces an audiocassette recorded by a Handmaid who is in hiding. She had been taken from her second husband Luke and their daughter.
The Red Centre Prelude
The center is run by Aunt Lydia. Moira, a friend of the Handmaid who recorded the tape, is captured after an escape attempt. Janine, another woman at the Centre, suffers a breakdown. Moira eventually manages to escape while other Handmaids graduate from the Centre.
Act One
The Handmaid is assigned to a new posting under the command of Fred. She is therefore known as Offred (Of Fred). The wife of the household is Serena Joy, a former Gospel singer. Offred and Ofglen, another Handmaid, go shopping where they encounter the pregnant Janine. A doctor offers to impregnate Offred, but she declines in fear. At her new posting, the handyman Nick and Fred both have illegal contact with Offred when they talk to her and approach her bedroom. The household gathers for the ritual impregnation, and Nick tells Offred that Fred wants to see her privately afterwards, which is also illegal.
The next day, the birth of Janine's child prompts all the Wives and Handmaids of the district to gather in celebration. Offred visits Fred that night in private, and once she is back in her bedroom, she collapses in fit of hysterical laughter.
Act Two
Rita discovers Offred the next morning on the floor of her room. Offred visits Fred again in private, and during their next ritual, he caresses Offred. She fears that Serena Joy will notice the tender gesture. During another round of shopping, Offred and Ofglen confide that they are both breaking the law, as Ofglen talks about the resistance movement. Janine joins them before breaking down again, as a result of the execution of her defective child. Janine is taken off for execution.
Offred continues to see Fred privately. Serena Joy tries to bribe Offred into a union with Nick by showing her a photo of Offred's missing daughter. Offred and Nick begin an affair. At a public execution, the Handmaids are given the opportunity to hang a 'rapist', who is part of the underground. Ofglen kicks him into unconsciousness in order to spare him the pain of hanging. Meanwhile, Serena Joy discovers Offred's affair with Fred. The "Eyes of God", the secret police, arrest Offred.
Epilogue
Professor Pieixoto reveals that no one knows what happened to Offred.
Read more about this topic: The Handmaid's Tale (opera)