The play is set in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. It opens in the house of Reverend Samuel Parris. He kneels beside the bed of his daughter, Betty, who appears lifeless. His niece Abigail Williams enters and Parris questions Abigail about the events of the previous night. Parris caught his daughter in the woods, with Abigail, Mary Warren, Ruth Putnam, Mercy Lewis, and Tituba, his slave, dancing and chanting. Betty fainted at the sight of her father, and now still lies lifeless. Abigail refuses to admit anything other than the fact that they were dancing. Other members of the town (including the Putnams, John Proctor, and Reverend Hale) arrive at the Parris home and want to know more about what happened the night before. Everyone is in a stir and thinks that the girls were participating in witchcraft. Now, they think that the Devil is hanging around the town of Salem, and they want him out. The only way that can happen is if all of the girls admit and repent their sins. Reverend Parris is afraid that his daughter might be accused of witchcraft, and if so, he will be thrown out of the town, and his authority will end.
John Proctor and Abigail have a conversation referring to their affair. Abigail wants him to confess his love for her, but he refuses to have any further involvement with her. Reverend John Hale, a man known to be an authority on the matter of witchcraft, arrives from Beverly. He is determined to drive the evil spirits away from Salem. Reverend Hale tries to get Betty to talk, and she finally does. Betty, Tituba, and Abigail confess to having conjured spirits in the woods, and they give the names of all of the other people (supposedly witches) they saw.
John Proctor's wife, Elizabeth, argues with him that he must go and turn Abby in to the court, saying that she is a fraud. John is reluctant to get involved with the witch-hunt. However, when his servant, Mary Warren, comes home from the court and says that Elizabeth was accused (probably by Abby), John agrees to go and speak with Abby over it. Reverend Hale enters and questions John and Elizabeth about their religious beliefs and practices. Ezekiel Cheever and Marshal Herrick, two men who arrest accused witches, come to the Proctor house to arrest Elizabeth, because she supposedly has poppets (dolls used in witchcraft) in her house.
At the court, depositions are given and names are mentioned. Anyone whose name is mentioned is questioned, specifically by Deputy Governor Danforth and Reverend Parris, as possibly trying to overthrow the court. Chaos breaks out. John Proctor goes to the court to try and save his wife. He brings Mary Warren to testify that all the girls were lying about the witchcraft. All of the girls are brought in for questioning. Abby maintains that she is telling the truth and accuses Mary of lying. John admits that he is a lecher and says that Abby is a whore. Elizabeth is brought in for questioning, but she denies that her husband is a lecher. The girls start screaming that Mary is a liar and that she is evil and Mary can take it no longer. She says that Proctor is the evil one and that he is the Devil. Proctor is arrested and Hale is so angered by the court that he up and quits the court.
Fall arrives, and the executions are about to take place. Parris pleads with Danforth to postpone the hangings, but he refuses. Reverend Hale enters. He has been trying to get the convicted people to confess. He pleads with Elizabeth to try and get John to confess for life is too precious to give it up for pride. She agrees to speak with her husband. John and Elizabeth finally get to talk to one another after three months apart. He asks her what he should do, if he should confess or not. She tells him to do what he has to do and that he is his only true judge. John finally confesses to Danforth, but retracts his confession when he refuses to have the paper that he signed hung up on the church door. He rips the paper, and Danforth demands that he be hung high over the town. John is taken out to be hung and Elizabeth says that he has his goodness now, and the scene ends, as the curtain falls.
