In Alexandre Dumas's classic adventure novel The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantès, a young sailor from Marseille who was recently made captain of his own merchant ship, is arrested on his wedding day, falsely accused of being a Bonapartist, charged with treason, and sent without a trial to the Château d'If, a notorious prison fortress on an island off the coast of southeastern France.

While in prison, Dantès is befriended by an Italian priest, the Abbé Faria, who educates Dantès in languages, science, and other subjects. Eight years later, when the Abbé Faria is near death, he gives Dantès the location of an immensely valuable treasure hidden on the deserted island of Monte Cristo, located in the Tyrrhenian Sea between the western coast of Italy and the island of Corsica—ironically, where Napoleon Bonaparte was born and where Edmond Dantès will be reborn as the Count of Monte Cristo.

Dantès escapes the Château d'If by sewing himself into Abbé Faria's burial sack, in which Dantès is thrown into the sea. Dantès frees himself from the sack, swims to a nearby island, and is rescued by a crew of smugglers from a ship that, through a fateful turn of events, takes Dantès to the island of Monte Cristo.

Dantès recovers the treasure and returns to Marseille. Disguised as a priest, Dantès uncovers the truth of his arrest and imprisonment. Dantès then purchases the island of Monte Cristo and the title of Count from the Italian government.

As the wealthy and powerful Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès rewards those of his friends who were loyal to him and takes his revenge against those who conspired against him, betrayed him, and caused him to be sent to the Château d'If.