This is the story of Edmond Dantes and his friend, Fernand Mondego, who were officers of a ship on their way to Elba looking for medical attention for their captain who was very ill at the moment. Dantes and Mondego were chased by English officers who thought they are spies of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon happened to arrive at that moment and let them know that they were not his agents. After clearing out the situation, Napoleon asked Dantes to give a letter to a friend in France and not let anybody know about that letter. While this was happening, Mondego was spying on their conversation. When the captain died that night, they were sent back home. At Marseilles, the shipping company's boss Morrell rewarded Dantes' bravery, promoting him …ver más…

The priest's death gave Dantes a chance to escape, because when the guards put Abbe’s corpse in the body bag, Dantes removed the body and put himself inside. After that he was thrown into the sea and escaped.
Dantes ended up on a desert island, where he met Luigi Vampa, a smuggler and thief. Vampa made Dantes to fight Jacopo (who was a traitor that they were planning to kill) until one of them died. Dantes beat Jacopo without killing him and convinced Vampa to let him live. Jacopo promised to serve Dantes for the rest of his life. Dantes joined the smugglers for three months, leaving when they arrived at Marseilles. Dantes found out that his father had committed suicide upon learning that Dantes had been imprisoned for treason. He also found out that Mercedes had married Mondego. Dantes went to the island of Monte Cristo, found Spada's treasure and decided to take revenge on Mondego, Mercedes, and everyone else that had to do with his arrest. Dantes renamed himself as the "Count of Monte Cristo". He hired Vampa to act out a kidnapping of Mondego's son Albert so that he could rescue him and gain his trust. In return, Albert invited the count to his sixteenth birthday party at the Mondegos' residence.
At the party, Mercedes recognized Dantes. Jacopo allowed her to hide in Monte Cristo's carriage to speak with him, wanting Dantes to abandon his obsession with revenge and simply live a normal life. Dantes did not admit to being her former