France, 1815: Young sailor Edmond Dantes returns home to Marseille, about to marry his fiancee Mercedes and be promoted to ship's captain. Unfortunately, three jealous friends conspire to get him arrested as a Bonapartist and he becomes a secret political prisoner instead. On the prison island he begins a friendship with another inmate, an Italian priest and scholar, who over the course of the following years provides Edmond with a comprehensive education and also information about a great treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo.

Edmond finally escapes and uses his new-found fabulous fortunes, combined with endless patience and merciless determination, as well as thorough knowledge of the world, its peoples, and its languages, to put into motion an elaborate plan for revenge. Using a number of fake identities, most notably as the Count of Monte Cristo, he seeks out the trust of his unsuspecting enemies and arranges their downfall.

The novel is available in its entirety from Project Gutenberg, and thanks to Youtube, many television and movie adaptations are readily viewable online, too (at least in parts), so that it is easy to take a look and see what got translated to the screen and how. From what I have seen I can recommend the French 1998 miniseries with Gerard Depardieu and Ornella Muti (which seems to introduce an additional major character), and the Japanese anime Gankutsuou (which presents the tale as a space opera)