― "God will give me Justice!"

The year is 1814, during the downfall of the Napoleonic Empire and the Emperor's exile onto the tiny island of Elba.
Second mate Edmond Dantès (James Caviezel) and his friend Fernand Mondego (Guy Pearce), officers of the French trading ship Pharaon, are heading towards Elba seeking help and medical attention to assist their ship's captain who has fallen ill, despite the fact that the British are charged to kill anyone who sets foot upon the island. Upon arriving, Dantès and Mondego are chased by British Dragoons who believe them to be spies of the exiled French Leader Napoleon Bonaparte (Alex Norton); they would have died were it not for the Emperor's timely arival and declaration that they are not his agents. They are then brought to Napoleon's lodge to treat the dying captain. Edmond gives Ferdinand a chess King, saying 'Kings to you, Mondego', for having saved their lives during their encounter with the Beach Patrol. Later in the evening, Napoleon calls upon the ignorant Dantès to ask of him a simple favor; to give a letter to an old friend back home in France. He swears that the letter is innocent, yet still requests that its existance be revealed to no one, not even Mondego. The captain dies later that night, they are sent on their way.
Once arriving at the port city of Marseilles, Dantès is reprimanded by the ship's first mate, Danglars (Albie Woodington) for disobeying orders. The shipping company's boss, Morrell (Patrick Godfrey), is inspired by Dantès' bravery and responsibility and thereupon promotes him to captain. Furious, Danglars storms out. Meanwhile, Dantès' fiancée Mercédès Iguanada (Dagmara Dominczyk) is intercepted by Mondego, who seeks her for himself. They discuss the fact that Edmond will not be able to afford marriage to her for two whole years. When Mondego learns of Dantès' luck, however, they all realise that the wait will now be much shorter than two years. Mondego is ridden with envy; he walks off without giving Edmond the chess piece, although it seems entirely appropriate for the moment.
However, the naïve Dantès does not realize how his fortune affects those he considers "friends". Mondego, shown very drunk in the streets, meets with Danglars, who he tells of the secret letter which he saw Napolean give Edmond. Danglars informs the police, and Dantès is arrested one night (on charges of "treason" as an alleged Bonapartist) and sent to the deputy public prosecutor and chief magistrate, J.F. Villefort (James Frain). Though Villefort is at once sure of Dantès's innocence and is on the verge of setting him free, he discovers that the addressee is none other than his own father, Clarion, a prominent Bonapartist. However, the son has denounced his father to improve his relations with the current royalist regime, and a resurgence of speculation about his true loyalties could irrevocably damage his career and prevent his imminent marriage into a well-known aristocratic family. In order to bury this secret, Villefort burns the letter and fools Dantès into submitting to arrest, and sends him to languish indefinitely in the infamous island prison Château d'If. He barely manages to escape and heads to the Mondego estate to appeal for help. Mondego, feigning ignorance and compassion, draws a sword on Edmond, who is untrained in fencing. Fueled by envy, reveals to Dantès that he read the letter, before wounding him such that he cannot attempt escape. Asked why he is doing this, he tells Dantès that it is "complicated"- Dantes is the son of a clerk, and Mondego shouldn't want to be him. He is re-arrested and sent to the Château d'If.
While imprisoned, Dantès is beaten annually (to commemorate his imprisonment) by the warden Armand Dorleac (Michael Wincott). Out of desperation Dantès attempts suicide. An inscription carved on his wall ("GOD WILL GIVE ME JUSTICE"), however, prevents him from killing himself. Soon afterward, he meets and befriends Abbé Faria (Richard Harris), a priest and a former soldier in Napoleon's army, who appears from the floor into Dantès' cell, having misjudged the direction that he would have to tunnel to escape. Dantès learns that Faria, too, was wrongfully imprisoned, by the Emperor himself, because he claimed to have no knowledge as to the location of the hidden fortune of the now deceased, enormously wealthy count, Enrique Spada. Dantès then tells Faria his story; with the priest's help through his gift of education and military skills, he discovers the horrible truth of his imprisonment and vows to seek revenge on Mondego and his associates in the betrayal once they escape. Their makeshift underground tunnel leading out to sea is interrupted when Faria is buried in a cave-in. Before he dies, Faria confesses to Dantès that he indeed knows the whereabouts of Spada's treasure, which was concealed in an old circular map he kept hidden in his cell. To excuse his lie, he tells Edmond that he's "a priest, not a saint." He also advised Dantès to use the wealth "only for good", with God on his side.
With the tunnel collasped, the priest's death gives Dantès another opportunity to escape. Faria's food dish was left in the tunnel beyond the cave-in, and Edmond cannot get to it in time to put it out for the daily meal. The man charged to feed the prisoners peers into the cell and sees Faria motionless on the ground. He returns with two other men bearing a body bag; they lace the priest up and leave to fetch Dorleac for the 'burial ceremony'. Dantès quickly returns from the tunnel between cells to look in on the priest, but is struck with an idea. He undoes the lacings, removes Faria's body, which he drags into his own cell, and laces the bag again with himself inside. He is carried out by the unsuspecting workers, with Dorleac reciting a mockingly inaccurate burial rite in the lead.
The food server resumes his normal duties and soon discovers that Dantès' cell is now occupied by the body that is supposedly being carried for burial. Seeing the tunnel, he realises what has happened and rushes out just in time to see the body bag being thrown over the cliff. As he is about to be released, Dantès reaches out to grab the keyring hanging from Dorleac's belt, draging him over as well. Edmond undoes the chains tied to his feet with the keys and surfaces near Dorleac, who becomes the first victim of Edmond's revenge.
After his daring escape, Dantès finds himself washed onto the shore of an island not two miles from the prison. Here he encounters Luigi Vampa (JB Blanc), who introduces himself as a smuggler and a thief. He persuades Dantès to fight Jacopo (Luis Guzmán), a crewmember and a traitor who was they had intended to bury alive. Dantès defeats Jacopo but allows him to live. In return for saving his life, Jacopo vows to serve Dantès for life. Under the name of Zatarra, which means 'driftwood', Dantès joins the smugglers in their adventures for three months, but leaves them when he finally arrives at his hometown of Marseilles. He then seeks the counsel of the retired Morrell, who does not recognize him through his greatly changed features and his purposefuly misleading beard. Morrell reveals all of what happened in the past 15 years. He first tells Dantès that his father committed suicide upon learning the nature of Edmond's treason. He learns that his fiancée has married Mondego, who is now a Count. He also learns that Danglars took over Morrell's shipping company. In a fury, he goes to the island of Monte Cristo, uncovers the treasure, and vows to use his new wealth to break Mercédès, Mondego, and the others who conspired against him.
Dantès buys an enormous house and becomes the "Count of Monte Cristo". As he studies his enemies, he comes to learn that Mondego has a son. He hires Vampa and his group to stage a kidnapping of Albert while partying in Rome. Monte Cristo "rescues" him, and invites the boy to his residence. Using the boy as 'a means to an end', Dantès and Jacapo are careful to use certain words in front of Albert, who in return for his rescue, invites the count to his 16th birthday at the Mondegos' Paris residence. At the party, Dantès meets with Villefort to discuss certain shippment of unspecified property. Mondego, however, upon meeting with Villefort later that evening, mentions that his son had heard Monte Cristo use the words gold, shipment, and Spada. These were deliberately spoken in front of Albert to arouse the suspicion that Monte Cristo had found the treasure of Spada. They devise a plan to steal the shipment of gold and split it equally. Due to Mondego's absence, Mercédès is forced to give Albert's birthday toast, but she is cut off by Monte Cristo, who leads the guests to believe that he requested the honor of giving the toast. As Mercédès observes him after his speech, she sees him twirling his hair, confirming her suspicions that the man is actually Edmond. Jacapo allows her to hide in Monte Cristo's carriage to speak with him privately, wanting his master to take what he has won. Edmond does not admit to being her old lover, but accidentally says 'Edmond Dantès', a name which Mercédès had never spoken to him.
Monte Cristo's revenge begins with his confrontation with Danglars, who Dantès has forced Mondego to go to for shippment of goods by exerting his influence over other companies. Danglars attempts to keep two chests of gold for himself. When the police arrive, he believes Mondego has set him up, and then attempts to fight Monte Cristo, who reveals himself as Edmond Dantès. Danglars is nearly strangled in the confrontation and is then placed under arrest. Later, the count gets Villefort to inadvertently confess that he had Mondego kill his father, Clarion, in return for telling Mercédès that Dantès had been executed. He is charged with conspiracy to murder, and comes to realize Monte Cristo's true identity. The scene of his arrest is purposefully similar to his arrest of Edmond, years ago. He finds a pistol on the seat of the carriage, 'a courtesy for a gentleman.' He attempts to shoot himself, but discovers that the pistol is empty, just before Edmond looks into the carriage and asks, 'You didn't think I'd make it that easy, did you?'
Mercédès has realized by this time who Monte Cristo is and confronts him. She admits to him that, although she had quickly married Fernand, she has always loved him, and shows him the ring that she had promised would never leave her finger. After sleeping together that night, Dantès, in a change of heart, decides to take Mercédès and her son and leave the country together. Again exerting his political influence, Edmond causes for all of Mondego's debts to be called in the next day and he goes bankrupt. Mercédès confronts Mondego and reveals to him that she is leaving him, and that Albert is actually the son of Edmond Dantès. It is now clear that the only reason she married him in the first place was because she was pregnant with the son of a supposed traitor. Mondego realizes that she is telling the truth, and that Albert was not premature, as he was originally led to believe. He says goodbye to her and leaves for his old family estate where the stolen gold shipment was arranged to be taken. When he arrives, he finds that the chests are empty. He then sees a man in the doorway, believing it to be Monte Cristo. But as the man comes closer, revealing his now shaven face, Mondego is speachless and is horrified to realize that the man before him is none other than Edmond Dantès. After a brief fight, and exchange of words, Albert rushes out of nowhere to defend the man he believes to be his father. They are joined by Mercédès and Jacopo just as Dantès is about to kill Albert to get to Mondego. Mercédès then reveales to Albert and Edmond that that they are actually father and son Edmond is shocked. The boy turns to Mondego in disbelief, but he admits that it is true. By now, Mondego has loaded his pistol and threatens to shoot Edmond, who, showing mercy, asks him to leave and be gone forever. Mondego opts to put his bullet "where it will do the most damage," and shoots, but Jacapo throws a knife as he as Mondego fires, striking him in the hand and causing the shot to go wide, hitting Mercedes in the shoulder. Mondego flees on horseback, but stops realizing that he cannot live in a world where he has nothing and Edmond has everything. He returns to the estate and calls Edmond out. To end the feud once and for all, the two duel, resulting in Dantès killing his former friend in the ensuing swordfight. As he lies on the ground with Edmond's sword through his heart, Mondego asks him what happened to his mercy. Edmond declares that he's "a count, not a saint."
Edmond Dantès, the Count of Monte Cristo, purchases the prison Château d'If three months later, and is shown giving thanks to Abbé Faria for the sacrifice and wisdom he endowed on him that allowed him to reclaim his life. Mercédès is shown to have recovered from the bullet, and Albert and Jacapo accompany them off the island, which Edmond decides to leave unattended, although he had bought it originally intending to tear it down. The last frames show the old inscription in Edmond's cell, 'God Will Give Me Justice'.