When poverty drives jean Valjean to steal a loaf of bread from a baker's window, it is an action which will haunt him for the rest of his life. A citizen of post-revolutionary France, he suffers nineteen years of hard labor. On his release, his fortunes change after an encounter with a saintly bishop. He becomes a respectable businessman and member of society, and yet his past continues to dog him in the form of the sadistic Inspector Javert, who seems determined to pursue Valjean to the grave