Those vagabond artistic types lead a life of joy and poverty in Paris in 1830. Rodolfo (Rolando Villazon) and his friends who are artists like Marcello (George Von Bergen) and philosophers like Colline (Vitalij Kowaljow) spend days and nights at clubs around the Seine, drinking and lamenting, but Rodolfo meets Mimi (Anna Netrebko) at the pub who seems more than able to join the bohemian rhapsody of the free spirit set. Their love at first sight masks the ugly truth that Mimi has tuberculosis and may be fading away after the holiday spirit leaves the local drinking house. When Musetta (Nicole Cabell) shows up, Rodolfo, not much on responsibility, is faced with a spurned lover to complicate his new romance, but Mimi may not hold up to the strong breeze of passion, desertion, and a winter of discontent.