Set in Gaul at the time of Ancient Rome, 'Norma' tells the story of the tragic love triangle between the ageing priestess Norma, the Roman proconsul Pollione and his new love, the young temple virgin Adalgisa. At the end of the Opera, desperate after having been abandoned by the man she loves, Norma decides to kill herself; Pollione, struck by her devotion, decides to join her on the pyre and burn to death at her side.