Jean Valjean, a good and decent man who has committed a minor crime, is imprisoned but escapes. He is pursued thereafter for years by Javert, the cruel and implacable arm of the law.

Jean Valjean, sentenced to the galleys for stealing a loaf of bread to keep his sister and her children from starvation, serves nineteen years. On his release an encounter with a great-hearted bishop works a miracle, and the beast again becomes a man. But he is hunted by the police until at last he is enabled to get the better of Javert, his chief tormentor.—Moving Picture World synopsis