The Count of Monte Cristo begins with the arrival of a ship in Marseilles,France.One of the crew is a young sailor named Edmond Dantès.Dantès seems to be on the threshold of great happiness.Morrel,the shipowner,promotes him to captain,and he is about to marry a beautiful girl named Mercédès.However,at the feast before the wedding Dantès is arrested for treason.He is innocent,but has been entrapped by a plot hatched by Danglars,a fellow sailor who is jealous of Dantès's promotion,and Fernand,who was his rival for the love of Mercédès.The plot is aided by Villefort,a corrupt prosecutor,and Dantès is imprisoned in the Château d'If.He is not told why he is imprisoned.He remains in the Château d'If for fourteen years.During this time he meets the Abbé Faria,a fellow prisoner who has been digging what he hoped would be a tunnel to freedom,but which leads instead to Dantès's cell.The Abbé is a learned man,and he teaches Dantès everything he knows.He also tells Dantès the location of a secret treasure,which is buried on an uninhabited island called Monte Cristo,in the Mediterranean.When the Abbé dies,Dantès switches places with the corpse and is carried out of the prison for burial.He plans to escape from the grave.But instead of burying him,the jailers toss him into the sea.Even so,he manages to swim to safety.He makes his way to Monte Cristo and discovers the treasure.
