Der Graf von Monte Christo

Edmond Dantès, a young, naïve second mate of a French trading ship, for the Morrell Shipping Company, lands the ship on the island of Elba to seek medical attention for his dying captain. While on the island, the exiled French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte gives Dantès a letter to deliver to a friend in Dantès' home of Marseille.
Dantès returns home and is greeted by his fiancée Mercédès and best friend Fernand Mondego. When Morrell asks what has become of the captain, Danglars, the first mate of the ship, reveals that the captain is dead and Dantès disobeyed orders by bringing him to Elba. Instead of becoming upset, Morrell commends Dantès and promotes him to captain. Danglars becomes furious and plots revenge on Dantès. Now that Dantès has been made captain he does not have to wait to marry Mercédès and the two revel in the news.
Mondego is also in love with Mercédès and secretly hates Dantès for his engagement to her. Having knowledge of the letter given to Dantès by Nepoleon, something considered an act of treason, Danglars recruits Mondego in his plot to ruin Dantès.