In the Book
In the Movie
A lengthy account of the Bishop Myriel's life is told, telling of how he gained his post via a chance meeting with Napoleon, once ventured into a path where a bandit was said to roam only to find that said bandit left a gift for him, had his last harrowing experience in the form of meeting a moribund member of the French Convention, among other things.
The Bishop's backstory is left out of the musical.
After being rejected by the people he tried to lodge with, Valjean takes refuge in a doghouse, where he is chased out by the dog itself, before a local woman points him out to the Bishop's home.
The Bishop encounters Valjean while he is wandering about in the streets.
After leaving Digne with the Bishop's silver, Valjean semi-consciously steals a forty-sou piece from a young Savoyard named Little Gervais, before snapping into an episode of regret, fruitlessly trying to find the boy again, asking a wandering cure if he had seen him, before finally deciding to fully redeem himself.
Valjean's decision to become a better man is purely inspired by the Bishop's kindness.
A section of the book is devoted to young Fantine's life with her lover, Felix Tholomyes, and three other couples, before the men abandon them, as well as a shorter section of her leaving Cosette with the Thénardiers before going to Montreuil and looking for work.
Fantine first appears already working at the factory in Montreuil. Tholomyes never appears, and Cosette is not introduced until later.
After a factory worker named Madame Victurnien spreads the rumour of Fantine having a child, the superintendent comes up to her one day and tells her that the Mayor has fired her.
A factory worker snatches a request for money sent to Fantine by the Thénardiers, leading the others to insist that Fantine will bring trouble, convincing the foreman to throw her out.