Following a scandalous broken engagement, Miss Julie, the daughter of Count Carl, forgoes a family Midsummers' Eve celebration to "honour" the estate servants' ball with her presence. There, she dances with one of the servants, Jean, whom she is attracted to. She orders him to sit at the table with her for beers, and humiliatingly forces him to kiss her shoe. Outside, she makes advances on him; the hand, hiding behind a sculpture, witnesses the encounter in shock. Miss Julie asks Jean if he has ever been in love. He replies he loved her as a boy, when he lived in poverty and saw her on the estate, but he was chased off as an "urchin". The servants march forward, singing and looking for Jean; Julie and Jean realize the scandal that will erupt if they are seen together, and attempt to escape and hide, but the hand has already told of what he saw.