Unjustly accused of treason, young French sailor Edmond Dantès is imprisoned without trial in the Château d'If, a forbidding island fortress off the coast of Marseille. During years of imprisonment, a fellow prisoner, a scholarly abbot, educates Edmond in multiple subjects. Before dying, the abbot reveals where a vast treasure is hidden on a deserted island. Edmond escapes and, finding the treasure, assumes the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo. He uses his wealth to enact revenge against his betrayers.