In which we are introduced to M. Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel, an aged bishop whose past life mingles nobility, loss, and transformation, and who arrives in the modest diocese of D—— accompanied by his gentle sister and their devoted servant. The subtle portrait of this man, set against the murmurs of a small town and the grandeur of empire, lays the foundation for a tale where human virtue quietly unfolds beneath the surface of rumour and ceremony.