Place: Upper West Side, New York City
Time: 1957, late Summer

Prolog: The streets of the Upper West Side in Manhattan are the territory of the Jets, a gang of American teenagers. Increasingly, they are involved in fights with the Sharks, a gang of immigrants, who are also disparagingly called "Spics" by the Jets. The police are often forced to intervene.  

Act I

„Something's Coming …“ (Tony)              

5 pm. The Jets decide to challenge the Sharks to a decisive battle for control of the neighborhood. Riff, their leader, is to present the challenge that evening at the youth club to Bernardo, leader of the Sharks.  

5:30 pm. Riff talks his old friend Tony in the back alley of “Doc’s Drugstore”, where Tony works, into rejoining the Jets and going with him to present the challenge at the dance.  

6 pm. Anita, the girlfriend of Bernardo, is trying on a dress with his sister Maria at the bridal shop where they work. Maria, who only recently has arrived in New York, should wear it at the dance at the youth club in the evening. The family expects her to marry Chino, Bernardo's best friend. 

10 pm. In the tense atmosphere between the two gangs at the youth club, Tony and Maria meet for the first time and instantly fall in love. Angry that his sister is consorting with “one of them”, Bernardo sends her home with Chino. Bernardo and Riff arrange a meeting in Doc's shop to set the rules for the decisive battle. Tony, meanwhile, is utterly enchanted by Maria. 

11 pm. Tony has come, unnoticed, to the apartment where Maria lives with her family. He calls to her, and Maria appears on the balcony. They declare their love for one another and arrange to meet the next day at the bridal shop.

Reflecting on the confrontation at the youth club, Anita tells the hot-tempered Bernardo not to be so strict with Maria – after all, they live in America now, where girls have a right to have fun. Anita confidently affirms her hope for a future in her new home, the “land of opportunity”: I like to be in America! 

Midnight. Jets and Sharks negotiate the rules for the fight at Doc’s shop. Tony has been on a completely "different planet" ever since he met Maria and tries to calm the heated atmosphere. He proposes a fair duel without weapons between the best of each gang. But Doc is afraid that it will turn into more than a duel … 

The next day. 5:30 pm. As arranged, Tony comes to the bridal shop. Tony promises Maria that there won’t be any fight. Between the wedding dresses in the store, the two lovers imagine their own wedding. 

6 pm. The two gangs prepare for the nightly fight. Meanwhile, Anita longs for the promised rendezvous with her beloved Bernardo, and elsewhere Maria and Tony are in seventh heaven with their young love: Tonight. 

9pm. Tony tries in vain to mediate at the last second, but the planned duel escalates into a fight "dog eat dog". A catastrophe follows: Bernardo stabs Riff, whereupon Tony – blind with rage at the death of his friend – murders Bernardo.  

Act II

“I have a love, and it's all that I have.” (Maria) 

9:15 pm. Maria and the other Shark girls are in a cheerful mood. Suddenly, Chino appears and tells them the terrible news of the fight. Maria can’t believe it. Soon, Tony himself arrives and tries to explain how it all happened. He asks for her forgiveness, planning to turn himself in to the police, but Maria wants him to stay. They spend a moment of togetherness and wish for a better world: Somewhere, there’s a place for us. 

10 pm. The situation between the gangs and the police has tightened after the fight. When the Jets get back together, they are united by a common enemy: Officer Krupke. They vent their anger in a parody about how they are viewed by the executive authority and society. Anybodys, a girl who for long has been begging to be taken into the gang, reports that Chino has told the Sharks all about Maria and Tony and has sworn to kill Tony. The Jets set out to find Tony.  

11:30 pm. When Anita comes home, Maria quickly sends Tony ahead to Doc's shop; she wants to follow later and plans to escape with him. Anita immediately realizes that Tony has been there, and she is furious: A boy like that ... But when Lieutenant Shrank arrives to interrogate Maria, Anita makes her way to the drugstore to warn Tony. 

11:40 pm. Anita searches in vain for Tony, who is hiding in the cellar of Doc’s shop, guarded by the Jets. The young men's distrust of their rivals is now so severe that it doesn't even occur to them that Anita could have good intentions ... Hatred and suspicion escalate: the young men assault the defenseless woman. Finally, Anita's hatred has awakened, and she claims that Chino killed Maria. 

11:50 pm. Doc tells Tony that Maria is dead – murdered by Chino …  

Midnight. Tony wanders through the streets desperately; suddenly he meets Maria – whom he thought was dead. The two run up to each other ... but their newfound love only lasts for a moment.