Jean Valjean, a former convict condemned in 1796, finds asylum, after being released from prison and wandering for a long time, with Mgr Myriel, Bishop of Digne. He is tempted by the prelate's silverware and flees at dawn. Gendarmes capture him, but the bishop testifies in his favor and saves him. Devastated, Jean Valjean gives in to a final temptation by robbing a little Savoyard, then becomes an honest man. In 1817 in Paris, Fantine was seduced by a student and then abandoned with her little Cosette, whom she entrusted to a couple of sordid innkeepers from Montfermeil, the Thénardiers. She is forced into prostitution.
Jean Valjean, a former convict condemned in 1796, finds asylum, after being released from prison and wandering for a long time, with Mgr Myriel, Bishop of Digne. He is tempted by the prelate's silverware and flees at dawn. Gendarmes capture him, but the bishop testifies in his favor and saves him. Devastated, Jean Valjean gives in to a final temptation by robbing a little Savoyard, then becomes an honest man. In 1817 in Paris, Fantine was seduced by a student and then abandoned with her little Cosette, whom she entrusted to a couple of sordid innkeepers from Montfermeil, the Thénardiers. She is forced into prostitution.