A film adaptation of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel. Edmond Dantes is falsely accused by those jealous of his good fortune, and is sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the notorious island prison, Chateau d'If. While imprisoned, he meets the Abbe Faria, a fellow prisoner whom everyone believes to be mad. The Abbe tells Edmond of a fantastic treasure hidden away on a tiny island, that only he knows the location of. After many years in prison, the old Abbe dies, and Edmond escapes disguised as the dead body. Now free, Edmond must find the treasure the Abbe told him of, so he can use the new-found wealth to exact revenge on those who have wronged him.

Dantes, a young French sailor, is snatched from the arms of his bride, Mercedes, and placed in a dungeon on charges of treason trumped up by Danglars, Fernand, and De Villefort. Dantes tunnels into the cell of the Abbé Faria, spends the next 20 years receiving the benefits of the Abbé's great fund of knowledge, then escapes by substituting himself for Faria's dead body. After finding a treasure on the island of Monte Cristo with a map given to him by the Abbé, Dantes returns to France, eventually gets revenge on all of his enemies, and is reunited with Mercedes.