Jean Valjean Timeline and Summary

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• Jean Valjean arrives in the village of Digne after being in prison for 19 years. He has money for food and lodging, but no one will take him in because he's an ex-con. Bummer.
• Valjean eventually goes to the home of Bishop Myriel, who takes him in without question and gives him a nice bed and meal. Valjean repays him by stealing all his silverware.
• When Valjean is caught by the police, Myriel claims that the silverware was a gift and lets Valjean go, but not before making him promise to live a good life from now on.
• Valjean moves to the town of Montreuil-sur-mer and becomes rich after inventing a new way of making black jade glass. He follows Myriel's advice and devotes his life to helping others.
• One day, Valjean runs into a prostitute named Fantine and promises to take care of her and her daughter. Fantine dies before he can bring her and her daughter together, though.
• Meanwhile, Valjean has learned that some random man has been identified as Jean Valjean and sentenced to life in prison. Valjean ultimately does the right thing and reveals himself. Before he's sent up the creek, though, he withdraws his entire fortune from the bank in cold cash and buries it along a road.
• Valjean escapes from prison while saving another man's life. The authorities assume he has died after falling into the sea, so he takes the opportunity to create a new identity for himself. He goes and digs up his fortune and tracks down Fantine's daughter Cosette. He takes Cosette to live with him in Paris.
• Valjean and Cosette aren't in Paris long before they bump into a policeman named Javert who recognizes them. They escape and live the next few years in a convent.
• When they leave the convent, Valjean and Cosette live a comfortable life. Valjean realizes that Cosette has fallen in love with a neighborhood boy, and he decides to take her to live in England in order to avoid attracting attention.
• When he finds out how much Cosette's admirer Marius loves her, Valjean runs into the heart of a street rebellion to save the kid by carrying his unconscious body through the Paris sewers.
• Once Marius and Cosette have married, Valjean reveals his true past to Marius, who is shocked. Valjean decides to spend less time around Cosette than before. His new loneliness eventually kills him, but not before Marius learns the truth about Valjean saving his life. Marius and Cosette stand by Valjean's bed and tell him they love him as he passes away.