The classic tale of lust, jealousy and vengeance takes on a lighter, mischievously comic tone, as two subsidiary female characters (the moralistic house concierge and a worldly-wise "actress") candidly discuss the melodramatic goings-on around them. The story - in which Tosca must save her unfaithful lover from execution by giving herself to the brutal chief of police - is told through an actual performance of Puccini's grand opera, and takes on a contemporary, ironically comic tone in the earthy, gossiping conversations between the two eavesdropping women.