As in the original novel, the storyline follows the adult life of Jean Valjean (Liam Neeson), an ex-convict[a] pursued by police inspector Javert (Rush).

Jean Valjean, a man arrested for stealing food, is released after spending 19 years in a prison labour camp.

Fantine, a single mother working at one of Valjean's factories, is fired when her manager learns she has had a daughter out of wedlock.

Fantine, in desperate need of money to pay the extortionate demands of Mr. and Mrs. Thénardier for looking after her daughter Cosette turns to prostitution.

Valjean eventually finds and rescues Cosette from the Thénardiers, the corrupt innkeepers who were supposed to care for her, but are actually forcing her to be their servant.

Both Valjean and Cosette finally make it to Paris where they start a new life together as father and daughter, cloistered within a religious convent.

When the soldiers shoot and kill Gavroche, a young boy allied with the revolutionists, Valjean uses his influence with Marius to have Javert turned over to him, so that he himself can execute him.

Cosette is far more independent in the film, suggests leaving the cloister to experience the outside world, and challenges Valjean's control of her life.

The film ends with Javert's suicide, eliminating the novel's extended denouement including the wedding and Valjean's death.

The website's critical consensus reads, "This intelligent, handsomely crafted adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel condenses the story's developments without blunting its emotional impact.