Scene 1

Kochubey’s house (khutor). A peaceful bank of the river. Here runs up Maria, Kochubey’s daughter. She is overwhelmed with excitement because Hetman Mazepa has arrived to ask for her hand. Will Kochubey bless their marriage? It’s long ago that Maria fell in love with old Mazepa. She cannot imagine her life without him.

Young Andrey, Kochubey’s fostered son, secretly follows Maria. He has loved the girl for a long time and is trying to open his heart to her, though he knows about Maria’s passion for Mazepa.

The girls, Maria’s peers, invite her to join them in singing, in throwing garlands into the river to foresee their future. But she remains unaffected. Andrey’s efforts to persuade her to refuse pernicious passion for the old man are also in vain. All her thoughts are with Mazepa. Andrey understands the futility of his efforts.

The yard of Kochubey’s house. Comes to an end a magnificent feast in honour of Mazepa. Mazepa has not yet talked with Kochubey about Maria. But the girl’s look of fondness makes him start the conversation.
Kochubey is shocked with Mazepa’s proposal: Maria is his god-daughter, she is in her spring blossoming and he is a grey-haired old man. Offended by the refusal, Mazepa insists on his proposal. Indignant Kochubey orders Mazepa to leave the house. A quarrel between the hetman’s guards (serduks) and Kochubey’s guests bursts out. Maria tries to stop it. And then Mazepa offers Maria to make her choice between him and her family. Infatuated Maria chooses Mazepa, and he leaves the house taking her with him.

Lubov, wife of Kochubey, is in despair and anger. She mourns over her daughter who has left home and insists that Kochubey should take a revenge upon Mazepa.

It’s a long time that Kochubey has wanted to reveal to Tsar Peter I that Mazepa is cherishing his plans of betrayal - to welcome overseas invaders to Ukraine, to alienate it from Russia. Kochubey’s friend Iskra suggests that a messenger should be sent immediately to Moscow to warn against the plans of the traitor. Andrey with risk for his life volunteers to deliver Kochubey’s letter to Tsar Peter I.

Scene 1

Kochubey is taken prisoner and stays incarcerated in Mazepa’s castle. Tsar Peter didn’t believe Kochubey’s message and both Kochubey and Iskra were handed over to Mazepa. It is their last night before their execution. Kochubey is ready to die, he will never yield to the traitor. Îrlik, Mazepa’s devoted servant, interrupts Kochubey’s mourning. Orlik is eager to know where Kochubey has hidden his fortune. Kochubey replies that he has already lost his treasures: his own honour and the honour of his beloved daughter. The only treasure left is his sacred revenge, but he will never let it be taken away from him. Infuriated with the answer, Îrlik orders to torture him.

Scene 2

Mazepa’s study. The old Hetman is tormented by controversial feelings: his love for Maria and his thirst for revenge upon Kochubey. But passion for power prevails. Mazepa orders that Îrlik should execute Kochubey and Iskra at dawn. Maria appears in the room, she is excited. It seems to her that her beloved has become cold to her. Eager to calm her down, Mazepa lets her into his conspiracy: to raise forces against Tsar Peter I, to proclaim himself Autocrat of Ukraine. Mazepa inquires whom of the two - him or her father - she would sacrifice, if one of them were to die. Maria is ready to sacrifice everything for the sake of Mazepa. The reply calms him down and Mazepa leaves the room.

Maria’s mother steals into the room. She implores her daughter for her father’s rescue from execution. Maria does not understand her, she in unaware of anything. Mother tells her that Kochubey and Iskra are to be murdered at dawn, in the small hours of the morning. Both women rush to the place of execution, cherishing a hope that they will be able to beg Mazepa to pardon Kochubey and Iskra.

Scene 3

A lot of people are brought to the place of the forthcoming execution. In horror they watch the armed serduks pass, followed by executioners with axes in their hands. They watch Kochubey and Iskra being led to the scaffold. When Lubov and Maria come to the place, the execution is already carried out. On seeing her father dead, Maria goes mad.

The final act of the opera is preceded by "The Poltava Battle", a symphony picture depicting the triumphant fight of the Russian army headed by Tsar Peter I against the Swedes.

Kochubey’s house is destroyed. There is despondency and devastation everywhere. In the distance the fight is coming to its end. The Swedes are defeated. Mazepa and Îrlik manage to abandon the battlefield.

During the fight Andrey sought to find his old enemy, but Mazepa escaped. All of a sudden Andrey finds both Ìàzepa and Îrlik on Kochubey’s destroyed khutor. They have found a refuge here from the pursuit of the Russians. Eager to kill him Andrey rushes to the traitor, but Mazepa’s bullet outstrips the fair revenge.

Badly wounded, Andrey falls onto the ground. Maria goes out of the house. She is insane. In horror Mazepa looks at the girl, tries to talk to her, but Maria does not recognise her beloved. It seems to her that his hands and clothes are stained with blood, her father’s blood.

Mazepa is depressed, confused and frightened, but Îrlik urges him to go, otherwise it is going to be a narrow escape. Mazepa runs away. Only then Maria notices Andrey lying on the ground. She seems to see him sleeping. Tenderly she is singing the dying young man to sleep. Her gentle lullaby song sounds in Kochubey’s devastated garden.