Fantine must leave Paris to find work. Desperately poor, she is forced to make an unbearably difficult decision to give her little daughter Cosette a better way of life. She makes her way to Montreuil and finds work in a factory there, presided over by the generous Monsieur Madeleine.
Jean Valjean is leading a new life as Monsieur Madeleine, mayor of Montreuil and owner of the factory. His life is unsettled when Javert becomes Montreuil's new police inspector. Javert suspects Monsieur Madeleine is hiding something and is determined to catch him out.
Little Marius Pontmercy is being brought up by his grandfather to hate his father and all that he fought for.
Thenardier and his wife run a village inn in Montfermeil. They kindly take in little Cosette, and Fantine sends money for her keep every month. Though they mistreat Cosette, the scheming Thenardiers demand increasingly impossible sums, and when Fantine is dismissed from the factory for keeping a secret about her life, she must take desperate measures to find a way to pay.
