Betrayed by his childhood friend Fernand (Guy Pearce), sailor Edmond Dantes (Jim Caviezel) is found guilty of trumped-up charges and sent to the island prison of Chateau d'If. Thirteen years later, having learnt the art of fencing from the Abbé Faria (Richard Harris), a fellow inmate who also revealed to him the location of a vast treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo, Edmond realises that the time has come and carries out a daring escape attempt. Taking the treasure for himself, he reappears as the Count of Monte Cristo and becomes the talk of Parisian society; but he soon learns that Fernand has married Mercédès (Dagmara Dominczyk), Edmond's own childhood sweetheart, and starts drawing up his plans for revenge.