Fiddler on the Roof: A Short Synopsis 

Tevye, his wife Golde, and their 5 daughters live in a close-knit, impoverished Jewish community called Anatevka that relies strongly on cultural tradition and devotion to faith. It is the year 1905, and looming tensions between Russian officials and Jewish communities threaten Anatevka’s very existence. As his three eldest daughters grow up and fall in love, Tevye is forced to decide whether to uphold the traditions that have anchored his life and culture for centuries, or push towards progress by allowing his daughters agency in a world that seems increasingly unstable.  

 

 Fiddler on the Roof: A Full Synopsis 

It is the year 1905, in the small village of Anatevka in modern-day Ukraine. Tevye compares the life of the villagers in Anatevka to that of a “fiddler on the roof” -- constantly trying to keep their balance in an unstable world. How the villagers attempt to achieve this balance is by maintaining tradition. Each person in the village knows their role and what God expects of them. Though Tevye dreams of becoming a wealthy man one day, he is relatively content in his position within his community. 

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Tevye is a milkman, married to Golde, with five daughters (Tzeitel, Hodel, Chava, Shprintze, and Bielke). Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava are reaching marriageable age and it is expected that the village matchmaker, Yente, will find husbands for them soon. When Yente comes to visit the house with news for Golde about a potential match for Tzeitel, Hodel and Chava are overjoyed, but Tzeitel warns them that they might end up stuck with a terrible husband. 

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As Tevye delivers cheese to some of the villagers, he meets Perchik, a student from Kiev with revolutionary ideas that the other village men do not support. Impressed by Perchik’s knowledge, Tevye invites him to spend the Sabbath with his family. Also joining them is the tailor Motel, Tzeitel’s childhood friend, with whom she is secretly in love. 

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The following week, at Golde’s insistence, Tevye goes to visit the local butcher, Lazar Wolf, who informs Tevye that he wishes to marry Tzeitel. While unsure at first given Lazar’s age, Tevye decides that Lazar will be able to provide Tzeitel with a comfortable home, and agrees to the match. Tevye, Lazar, and the villagers celebrate. As Tevye is walking home, he is stopped by the local Russian constable, who warns Tevye that there is pressure for the Russians to demonstrate their power against the Jewish people, and there may be an “unofficial demonstration” sometime soon. The fiddler, a mystical figure symbolic of the instability of Tevye’s world and tradition, appears and dances with Tevye. 

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The next morning, Tevye tells Tzeitel that she will marry Lazar. In tears, Tzeitel begs her father not to force her to marry him, and touched, Tevye relents. Motel rushes up and asks Tevye if he may marry Tzeitel instead. Tzeitel and Motel admit to Tevye that they have pledged themselves to each other. Though Tevye is at first infuriated by the fact that Tzeitel and Motel have arranged their own marriage without respect for his decisions, he sees how deeply Tzeitel loves Motel and agrees. Fearing Golde will not approve, Tevye invents a dream in which Golde’s grandmother and Lazar Wolf’s deceased wife warn him to allow Tzeitel to marry Motel, which thoroughly convinces the superstitious Golde. 

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Meanwhile, Perchik is teaching radical lessons to Tevye’s two youngest daughters, which does not impress the second-eldest, Hodel. Perchik tells Hodel that things are changing in the world, and the two of them dance together – a forbidden activity in Anatevka. Tevye’s third daughter, Chava, is walking by Motel’s shop one day and is harassed by two Russian soldiers. Fyedka, a third Russian, convinces them to stop and tries to be friendly to Chava by offering her a book, which she hesitantly takes.  

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At the wedding of Tzeitel and Motel, there is tension between Tevye and Lazar Wolf, and an argument breaks out amongst the villagers about whether or not Tzeitel should have married Lazar. Perchik stands up and argues that it was Tzeitel’s choice to marry Motel, and that was what mattered far more than tradition. In front of the village, he dances with Hodel, breaking another tradition. Tevye and Golde join them, and finally all the villagers begin dancing together. Suddenly, the Russian constable arrives, telling Tevye that he has been given orders to have a “demonstration” that night. Russian soldiers burst into the wedding and begin violently destroying it. Perchik is knocked unconscious by one of the soldiers, the villagers are scattered, and the wedding is left in shambles.  

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Two months later, Perchik informs Hodel that he will be leaving Anatevka to work with political revolutionaries in Kiev. He proposes to Hodel, and she says yes. The two inform Tevye of their decision, and Tevye is again upset by the breach in tradition, but ultimately agrees.  Seeing the love Perchik and Hodel have for each other makes Tevye think of his own relationship, and he and Golde have a heart-to-heart about whether they truly love each other, finally coming to the conclusion that they do. 

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Some time later, Hodel gets a letter that Perchik has been arrested in Kiev and is being sent to a settlement in Siberia. She decides to leave Anatevka and go be with him in Siberia, and a sorrowful Tevye takes her to the train station and prays that God will protect her. 

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A few months later, Tzeitel and Motel have welcomed two new arrivals: a baby and a sewing machine. Chava has a conversation with her father about her relationship with Fyedka, and he warns her to stay away from him. Chava insists that Fyedka is a good person and shocks Tevye by saying that she wants to marry him. Tevye forbids this, declaring that Jewish and Russian people cannot belong together. The following day, Golde tells Tevye that Chava has left and married Fyedka. Chava comes to Tevye and begs him to accept the marriage, but a heartbroken Tevye refuses, declaring that Chava is dead to him. 

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After some time has passed, the Constable informs Tevye that he has three days to vacate his home – there is an order that all the Jewish families must leave Anatevka. The bewildered and angry villagers reflect on their time in Anatevka and their love for their home despite how they’ve struggled there. The villagers each make plans to leave – Yente plans to go to Israel, Lazar to Chicago. Tevye, Golde, Shprintze, and Bielke plan to go live with Tevye’s brother in America, with Motel, Tzeitel, and their baby joining when they are able. As they are packing up the house, Chava and Fyedka come to say goodbye – they will be moving to Krakow as they feel they cannot stay in a place where pogroms take place. While Tevye still refuses to talk to Chava directly, he tells Tzeitel to say “God bless you” to the two of them as they leave. As Tevye pulls his cart away from Anatevka, the fiddler appears. Tevye gestures for the fiddler to follow. 

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See script analysis here.

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