Their servants even fight each other on the street, but the Prince tells them to knock it off, or the next time they'll pay with their lives.

Lord Montague wants to know why Romeo's been depressed. (Romeo is in love with this girl, Rosaline, but she's not paying any attention to him (she says she'd rather be a nun than be involved with him: (ouch), and he's really depressed, moping about just bringing down his friends, Mercutio and Benvolio. They can't stand it.

Out on the street, Mercutio and Benvolio are trying to tell Romeo that there are "other fish in the sea," and so they plan to crash this big party at Lord Capulet's house, which is kind of risky since Romeo's family hates the Capulets and vice versa. But the party is a masked ball, so they'll be in disguise and will feel fairly safe.

Then they go to the party. At the party, Juliet's eyes meet Romeo's and they fall in love. They connect briefly, but the arrow (Cupid's) has wounded them both.

Also, at this party, Juliet's cousin Tybalt recognizes Romeo's voice and he is outraged that a Montague would come to their party. Tybalt tells Lord Capulet about it, but Lord C. doesn't want to spoil the evening, so he tells Tybalt to leave it alone; he's heard that Romeo's not a bad young man anyway. Hot headed Tybalt cannot leave it alone, though.

Soon, Romeo finds out Juliet, his love, is a Capulet.

Romeo stands under Juliet's balcony and tells her how much he loves her. She tells him the same.

She says she'll send her nurse tomorrow to ask him if he will marry her. They have a hard time saying goodbye.

Benvolio and Mercutio wonder where their friend has been. They hear that Tybalt has challenged Romeo to a duel.

The nurse comes to see Romeo to find out his intentions, and he says he will marry Juliet. When the nurse gets back to Juliet, she teases her, not letting her know what Romeo said right away.

Romeo arrives and tries to stop it, but he gets between Mercutio and Tybalt and makes it easy for Tybalt to stab Mercutio. Mercutio dies as a result of his wounds. Then, in rage, Romeo fights Tybalt over the death of his friend, and he kills Tybalt.

The Prince, who has warned about violence before, banishes Romeo after Benvolio tells the story, revealing that it wasn't really Romeo's fault. The nurse tells Juliet that Tybalt is dead and that Romeo killed him.  Juliet is in agony.

Romeo visits Friar Lawrence, complaining that being banished is worse than being dead because he won't get to be with Juliet. Friar Lawrence tries to convince him that he's lucky. The nurse comes to Friar Lawrence with word from Juliet; she wants to see Romeo.

Paris arrives at the Capulet's burial tomb. Romeo has arrived before him and is breaking into the tomb. Paris challenges Romeo, but Romeo tries to explain that he doesn't want to fight. They fight, though and Paris dies.

In the tomb, Romeo sees Juliet. He goes to her and speaks his last speech. He is amazed that she is still warm, his clue that she may not be dead, but he is too hasty, and he swallows the poison. Romeo dies.

Friar Lawrence arrives, alarmed that Romeo got there first. He goes in and finds Romeo dead and fears what will happen to him when people find out what he did. Juliet wakes up. She sees Romeo and realizes he's dead. Friar Lawrence tries to get her to leave, but she's inconsolable. She takes Romeo's dagger and kills herself.

The parents arrive and find Romeo dead and Juliet dead "again." The Friar tells the entire story, of how they were married. The Prince tells them that this tragedy is everyone's fault, even himself because he didn't punish the feuding families more harshly.

Lord Montague and Lord Capulet realize, finally, that their long-standing hatred for each other's family must end.