What is the story of Les Misérables?

Answer 1

A man, Jean Valjean, is convicted of stealing a loaf of bread. The play opens as he is leaving jail, under the watch of Javert, a police officer. He goes off of his parole and goes to live a church, where he robs a priest. The priest, being a holy man, gives him money to start a new life. The play jumps forward some years so that he is a bit older, and a prominent factory owner, as well as a mayor of a small town. Javert comes in to work for him, and does not recognize him. He tells Valjean that they've caught a man who is supposedly Valjean. He is distracted, and absentmindedly fires an employee, Fantine. He then runs into her while she is prostituting, and saves her. She has consumption, but before she dies they fall in love. She has a child, Cosette, so he goes and adopts her, after clearing the name of the other man. The play jumps forward again to 10 years later, when Cosette is in her late teens and Valjean is old. It is the time of the July Revolution, led by a man called Marius. He sees Cosette and asks his friend Eponine to find her. She does, even though she is in love with Marius, and Marius and Cosette meet and fall in love. Then the July Revolution happens, and Eponine dies to be with Marius while he is fighting. Marius is injured and Valjean saves him. He brings him back to Cosette, and they are married. Javert is putting down the Revolution when he is caught by the revolutionaries. Valjean takes him to supposedly kill, then spares him. Javert feels so bad that he kills himself. Valjean then goes off, to not disgrace Cosette, and dies, to go be in heaven with Fantine.