The Three Musketeers recap

Young D'Artagnan comes to Paris hoping to join the king's musketeers and becomes inseparable from Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Serving Queen Anne, they recover diamond studs she gave the Duke of Buckingham before Cardinal Richelieu can expose her. D'Artagnan then becomes entangled with Milady de Winter, a formidable agent of the cardinal whom Athos recognizes as the wife he believed dead. During the siege of La Rochelle, the friends uncover Milady's missions against Buckingham and D'Artagnan. Imprisoned in England, she manipulates Felton into freeing her and assassinating Buckingham. Back in France she poisons D'Artagnan's beloved Constance. The friends capture Milady, try her for her accumulated crimes, and have her executed. Richelieu arrests D'Artagnan but accepts the result and rewards his audacity with a lieutenant's commission. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis leave active service on different paths, while D'Artagnan continues his military career.

D'Artagnan leaves Gascony for Paris with an old horse, a little money, and a letter to Monsieur de Tréville, captain of the king's musketeers. At Meung, a scarred stranger mocks him, has him beaten, and steals the letter. In Paris, Tréville receives D'Artagnan kindly but cannot immediately admit him to the musketeers. While leaving, D'Artagnan accidentally offends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis and arranges three successive duels. Before the first can proceed, Cardinal Richelieu's guards intervene. D'Artagnan fights beside the three musketeers against the larger force, turning the threatened duel into a shared victory. His courage wins the friendship of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis and the notice of King Louis XIII. Because he must first prove himself in another company, he enters the king's guards while continuing to spend his time with the three friends.

D'Artagnan's landlord, Monsieur Bonacieux, asks for help after his wife Constance, an attendant to Queen Anne, is abducted. D'Artagnan rescues Constance and learns that the queen is endangered by a secret involving the Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham enters the Louvre in disguise to meet Anne, who gives him a set of diamond studs presented to her by the king. D'Artagnan commits himself to Constance and becomes involved in protecting the queen's confidence. Meanwhile, Bonacieux is arrested, and D'Artagnan again catches sight of the scarred stranger from Meung among the men operating against the queen. The private meeting and the missing jewels have created dangers whose full shape D'Artagnan does not yet know.

Richelieu persuades Louis XIII to command that the queen wear her diamond studs at an approaching ball, while arranging for two of them to be stolen in England. D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis ride for London to recover the jewels, pursued and obstructed along the road. One by one the three musketeers are forced to remain behind, leaving D'Artagnan to cross the Channel alone. Buckingham discovers the loss and orders matching replacements made while closing the ports to delay the cardinal's agents. D'Artagnan returns to Paris with the complete set in time for the royal ball. Anne wears the studs, defeating Richelieu's attempt to disgrace her, and secretly rewards D'Artagnan for preserving her honor.

After the ball, D'Artagnan's planned meeting with Constance is broken up and she disappears again. He retraces the road to England, recovering Athos, Porthos, and Aramis from the separate difficulties that halted them, then helps each seek money and equipment for the coming campaign. Athos, while drinking with D'Artagnan, relates the history of a nobleman who discovered that his young wife bore the brand of a convicted criminal and believed he had killed her. D'Artagnan does not yet grasp the full importance of the story. In Paris he quarrels and duels with Lord de Winter, then makes peace with him and is introduced to the Englishman's beautiful sister-in-law, Milady. Already captivated by her, D'Artagnan begins visiting her house, even though her intentions remain uncertain.

With the aid of Milady's maid Kitty, who loves him, D'Artagnan learns that Milady despises him and remains devoted to another man. He deceives Milady by assuming that man's identity during a darkened meeting, then later courts her in his own name. When Milady believes D'Artagnan has killed her absent lover, she offers herself and urges vengeance; his confession turns her passion into fury. In the struggle D'Artagnan sees a fleur-de-lis brand on her shoulder. She tries to kill him, and he escapes with Kitty. Athos confirms the implication: Milady is the branded wife from his history, still alive. The friends prepare for service at La Rochelle knowing that D'Artagnan has made a resourceful and implacable enemy.

At the siege of La Rochelle, attempts are made on D'Artagnan's life, including poisoned wine that kills others before he drinks it. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis overhear Richelieu meeting Milady at an inn. The cardinal sends her to England to press Buckingham toward peace or arrange his removal, and in return gives her authority to act against D'Artagnan. Athos confronts Milady privately, reveals that he knows her, and takes the cardinal's signed authorization. The four friends then hold a council while breakfasting under enemy fire in the Bastion Saint-Gervais. They decide to warn Lord de Winter and the queen's allies, while preserving the signed paper as protection. Their conspicuous defense of the bastion wins military honor, but Milady's mission is already under way.

Warned by the musketeers, Lord de Winter intercepts Milady in England and confines her under the guard of John Felton. She studies the severe young officer and constructs a false history that presents Buckingham as her persecutor. By performing piety, despair, and trust, she gradually turns Felton's religious hostility to the duke into personal devotion to her. Lord de Winter recognizes the danger too late. Felton helps Milady escape and carries her to a waiting vessel, then goes to confront Buckingham himself. Milady sails for France, having converted imprisonment into another weapon and leaving Felton committed to the course she has designed.

Felton assassinates Buckingham, allowing Milady to report success when she reaches France. She goes to the Carmelite convent where Constance is sheltered. D'Artagnan and his friends are close behind, but Milady poisons Constance and escapes before they arrive; Constance dies in D'Artagnan's arms. Joined by Lord de Winter and the executioner of Lille, the friends track Milady down. A private tribunal hears how her deceptions, betrayals, and violence have destroyed lives in both countries, and the executioner carries out their death sentence. Richelieu then has D'Artagnan arrested. D'Artagnan presents the cardinal's own authorization, taken from Milady by Athos, and Richelieu chooses to reward rather than punish him, issuing a lieutenant's commission. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis each decline the promotion, so D'Artagnan accepts it. The friends disperse toward retirement, marriage, religion, and continued service, their bond intact despite their different futures.

After Milady poisons Constance at the Béthune convent, D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and Lord de Winter pursue her. They convene a private tribunal with the executioner of Lille, hear the charges arising from her crimes in France and England, and condemn her. The executioner carries out the sentence beside the river. Returning to the army, D'Artagnan is arrested and taken before Richelieu, but he produces the cardinal's own broadly worded authorization, which Athos had taken from Milady. Richelieu destroys the paper and, impressed by D'Artagnan's resourcefulness, gives him a commission as lieutenant of the musketeers. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis decline it, leaving D'Artagnan to accept. The four friends gradually separate: Porthos makes a wealthy marriage, Aramis turns again toward religious life, and Athos retires, while D'Artagnan remains in royal service and eventually reaches an understanding with his old enemy from Meung.