Charlemagne’s army is fighting the Muslims in Spain.

They have been there for seven

years, and the last city standing is Saragossa, held by the Muslim King Marsile.
Threatened by the might of Charlemagne's army of Franks, Marsile seeks advice from his
wise man, Blancandrin, who councils him to conciliate the Emperor, offering to surrender
and giving hostages. Accordingly, Marsile sends out messengers to Charlemagne,
promising treasure and Marsile's conversion to Christianity if the Franks will go back to
France.

Charlemagne and his men, tired of fighting, accept his peace offer and select a messenger
to Marsile's court. The protagonist Roland, Charlemagne's nephew, nominates his
stepfather Ganelon as messenger. Ganelon, who fears to be murdered by the enemy and
accuses Roland of intending this, takes revenge by informing the Saracens of a way to
ambush the rear guard of Charlemagne's army, led by Roland, as the Franks re-enter
France through the mountain passes.

As Ganelon predicted, Roland leads the rear guard, with the wise and moderate Oliver
and the fierce Archbishop Turpin. The Muslims ambush them at Roncesvalles and the
Christians are overwhelmed. Oliver pleads with Roland to blow his horn to call for help,
but Roland tells him that blowing his horn in the middle of the battle would be an act of
cowardice. If Roland continues to refuse, Oliver will not let Roland see his sister again
whom Roland loves the most. However, Archbishop Turpin intervenes and tells them that
the battle will be fatal for all of them and so instructs Roland to blow his
horn oliphant (the word is an old alternative to "elephant", and was used to refer to a
hunting horn made from an elephant tusk) to call for help from the Frankish army. The
emperor hears the call on their way to France. Charlemagne and his noblemen gallop
back even though Count Ganelon tries to trick them.

The Franks fight well, but are outnumbered, until almost all Roland's men are dead and
he knows that Charlemagne's army can no longer save them. Despite this, he blows his
olifant to summon revenge, until his temples burst and he dies a martyr's death. Angels
take his soul to Paradise.

When Charlemagne and his men reach the battlefield, they find the dead bodies of
Roland's men, who have been utterly annihilated. They pursue the Muslims into the
river Ebro, where the Muslims drown. Meanwhile, Baligant, the powerful emir of
Babylon, has arrived in Spain to help Marsile. His army encounters that of Charlemagne
at Roncesvalles, where the Christians are burying and mourning their dead. Both sides
fight valiantly. When Charlemagne kills Baligant, the Muslim army scatters and flees,
leaving the Franks to conquer Saragossa. With Marsile's wife Bramimonde, Queen of
Saragossa, Charlemagne and his men ride back to Aix, their capital in France.

The Franks discover Ganelon's betrayal and keep him in chains until his trial, where
Ganelon argues that his action was legitimate revenge, not treason. While the council of
barons assembled to decide the traitor's fate is initially swayed by this claim, partially out
of fear of Ganelon's friend Pinabel who threatens to fight anyone who judges Ganelon
guilty, one man, Thierry, argues that because Roland was serving Charlemagne when
Ganelon delivered his revenge on him, Ganelon's action constitutes a betrayal.
Pinabel challenges Thierry to trial by combat. By divine intervention, Thierry kills
Pinabel. By this the Franks are convinced of Ganelon's treason. Thus, he is torn apart by
having four galloping horses tied one to each arm and leg and thirty of his relatives are
hanged. Bramimonde converts to Christianity, her name changing to Juliana. While
sleeping, Charlemagne is told by Gabriel to ride to help King Vivien and bemoans his
life.