Candide lives in the castle of his mother's brother, the Baron. His mother
refuses to marry his father because he's not noble enough for her. Cunegonde flirts with Candide and they kissed. The Baron saw them and banished Candide. Candide, wanders to the next town, fatigue and hungry, was forced to join the Bulgarian army after two men fed him and gave him money. He suffered abuse and hardship so decide to take a walk one morning and got caught by four soldiers. He was given a choice between execution and running the gauntlet 36 times. He chose neither option but when he was forced to choose, he chose for running the gauntlet. The Bulgarian king realized that Candide is a "metaphysician" so the king pardons Candide. His wounds heal and the wars began wetween Bulgaria and Abares. That was Candide escapes and he reaches Holland. He was being treated badly by an orator and the orator's wife. Seeing this, an Anabaptist, James, takes Candide into his home and taught him the trade of weaving.
Candide meet a beggar whom is Pangloss and Pangloss tells him about the attack at Baron's castle. Pangloss is infected with syphilis and James found a doctor to cure him. James took Pangloss under his wing with Candide and took them on a business trip to Lisbon. While on their way to Lisbon, a storm came and sink the ship, leaving only Pangloss, Candide and a sailor survive and arrive Lisbon. At Lisbon, Pangloss was hung for "speaking his mind" and whipped Candide publicly for "seeming to approve". An old woman took care of Candide and treated his wounds. After two days, she brought him to Cunegonde who was his real benefactor. She explains to him that her family was killed and she became a mistress for a Bulgarian captain. Then sold her to a Jew named Don Issachar. The Grand Inquisitor wants to buy her from Don Issachar but he decline so they compromise in sharing her. When Don Issachar arrives to see Cunegonde alone with Candide, he attacks Candide in jealous rage. Candide kills him with a sword given by the old woman. Then the Grand Inquisitor arrives and Candide kills him also. Cunegonde collects all her jewelries and horses and flee with the old woman and Candide. A Franciscan stole Cunegonde's jewels and so they had to sell one of the horses to travel to Cadiz. Then they plan to travel to the New World and hopes that "everything is for the best" in the New World. Cunegonde become discourage but the old woman reminds her that she has suffered more than Cunegonde did. The old woman tells her story. She is the daughter of Pope Urban X and the Princess of Palestine and was raised in a wealthy family. She was engaged to the Prince of Massa Carrara but the Prince's mistress killed him with a poisoned drink leaving the old woman husbandless. Princess of Palestine and her daughter sail to another land to mourn for her daughter's loss. Before they arrive Gaeta, many Moors came onto their ship and raped the women and sailed to Morocco to sell them as slaves. The old woman saw her mother and other women torn apart by the men fighting each other for the women. She hid with the other corpse and an Italian eunuch found her and took her in. He promised to take her back to Italy, then took her to Algiers and sold her to the Dey. The old woman was sold several times and ended up in the hands of an Aga of the Janissaries. Desperate for food, the Janissaries killed and ate two eunuchs. They planned to do the same with the women, but a "humane" man persuaded them to merely cut one buttock from each woman. Eventually, the Russians killed all the Janissaries. The woman was taken to Moscow with her owner but he was executed so she escapes. She worked as a servant in inns across Russia. Many times in her life, she came close to suicide. She has always found some reason to live. She tells Candide and Cunegonde to ask each passenger on the ship to tell his story. She wagers that every single one has been upset to be alive. The old woman's prediction is correct. When the ship docked, Don Fernando begs Cunégonde to marry him. The old woman advises Cunégonde to marry the governor, as marrying him could make Candide's fortune.
Cacambo tells Candide not to worry about Cunegonde because "women are never at a loss." Candide and Cacambo wish to speak with the commandant. The commandant turns out to be Cunegonde's brother. Candide and the baron embrace one another in tearful joy. Candide reports that Cunégonde also survived the attack and that she is with the governor. While they wait for the Reverend Father, the Commandant relates his story. The Commandant was unconscious and appeared dead. He was thrown into a cart full of corpses and taken to a Jesuit chapel for burial. A Jesuit sprinkling holy water on the bodies noticed the Commandant's eyes moving. He immediately made arrangements for the Commandant's care. After three weeks, the Commandant recovered completely. He became a Jesuit and was sent to Paraguay, where he became a colonel as well as a priest. Candide ends up killing Commandant. Candide and Cacambo hide in a thicket where they fall asleep. They awake to find themselves bound and surrounded by a tribe of Oreillons. The tribe shouts joyfully, excited that they are going to get revenge against the Jesuits by eating one. Cacambo tells them in their language that Candide is not a Jesuit. He explains that Candide killed a Jesuit and wore his habit to escape. He urges the Oreillons to take the habit to the border and ask the guards to confirm the story. The Oreillons do so and discover that Cacambo was telling the truth. They show the men the greatest of hospitality and accompany them to the edge of their territory. Cacambo suggests he and Candide go to Cayenne. Cacambo and Candide make their way to a village. There they find children playing at quoits with emeralds, rubies, and diamonds. Candide is convinced the children are the sons of kings. The village schoolmaster calls the children, and they leave the quoits on the ground. Candide tries to give the quoits to the schoolmaster, but the puzzled schoolmaster merely throws them on the ground. Cacambo and Candide visit the king. They hug him and kiss him on the cheek according to custom. The king's officials give them a tour of the magnificent capital city. The kingdom has no courts and no prisons because the citizens live in harmony. They have schools devoted to the sciences and philosophy. Candide decides to take loads of the "country's pebbles" back to his own land, hoping to become a hero. The king considers the plan "rash and silly," but sets his architects to work building a machine to lift Candide, Cacambo, and 102 sheep loaded down with jewels out of the deep valley. They meet a slave on the road who is wearing filthy, ragged clothing and missing a leg and a hand. The beggar tells them that his own mother sold him to his cruel master, Mynheer Vanderdendur, for fourteen patacooms. He tells them of the misery of slavery, and Candide decides he no longer believes Pangloss's philosophy of optimism.
Candide still has a little money and a few jewels, and he hopes to use what he has to recover Cunegonde. Candide decides to see Paris. He and Martin meet an abbe of Perigord and play cards with him and his friends. Candide loses a good deal of money because the other players are cheating. The abbe takes him to visit the Marchioness. She seduces Candide and steals his jeweled rings. The abbé learns that Candide has never received a letter from Cunégonde. The next morning, Candide receives a letter signed "Cunégonde" with the news that she is ill and wishes him to visit her. Candide weeps into the hand of the woman who he believes is Cunégonde and fills it with diamonds.
Candide and Martin travel to Constantinople with Cacambo and his master. They learn that Cacambo bought Cunegonde and the old woman from Don Fernando, but that a pirate abducted them and sold them as slaves. Cunégonde has grown horribly ugly. Candide resolves to love her anyway. He sells another diamond and purchases Cacambo's freedom. One is Cunégonde's brother, the Baron. The other is Pangloss. When he hears that one slave is a baron and the other a metaphysician, the captain demands a high price for them. Candide pays it gladly.
Candide finds the farmer's philosophy appealing. He, Cunégonde, and his friends decide to follow it. Pangloss tells Candide that their situation must be "a concatenation of all events in the best of possible worlds." Candide remarks, "Excellently observed, but let us cultivate our garden."
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The Abbe of Perigord – A social vulture who tries to cheat Candide out of his money.
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Candide – A young man who naively believes in a philosophy of optimism. He is an illegitimate son of a German baron's sister because his mother believed that his father was not noble enough for her to be married to Candide's father. Candide falls in love with
Cunegonde, his uncle's daughter. He was banished when the Baron catches the two lovers kissing. Candide was faced with many adventures and experiences a great deal of misery. At the end of the novel, he has given up his undiluted optimism and interest in philosophical debates in favor of practical, hard work.
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Cacambo
– Candide's foot servant when Candide travels to the New World with Cunegonde and the old woman. Cacambo loves Candide because Candide is kind. Cacambo was there to help Candide when Candide is in dire need of help. At the end of the novel, Cacambo lives and works on Candide's farm near Constantinople.
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The Commandant or the Baron – Cunegonde's brother. Each believed the other is dead because the Bulgarian army killed their parents during a war. He was taken to a chapel to be buried while he was in the state of unconscious after the attack. He became conscious when arriving the chapel and travels to the New World. He is reunited with Candide but then is furious to find that Candide wants to marry his sister. Candide finds him chained to a bench with Pangloss and Candide purchases their freedom. The Baron was still upset with Candide so Candide sends him back to the galleys.
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Cunegonde – She's the daughter of a German baron and she fell in love with Candide, a person below her station. She went to the New World and turn up as a mistress of Don Fernando, then the pirates abducts her and sold her as slaves. She became ugly but Candide still loved her and marries her anyway.
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Don Fernando d'Ibaraa Figuerora y Mascarenes y Lampourdos y Souza – A pompous, self-important governor of Buenos Ayres. He fell in love with Cunegonde and made her his mistress after proposing to her.
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Father Giroflee – A dissatisfied friar because his parents forced him into a monastery to enlarge his brother's fortune. Candide gives him a good deal of money but he squandered it all with his friend, Pacquette.
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The Grand Inquisitor – A self-centered person that does not care for anyone. After an earthquake levels Lisbon, he orders several people burned alive to prevent further earthquakes. He orders Pangloss's hanging and Candide's whipping. Candide killed him.
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Don Issachar
– A wealthy Jew who bought Cunegonde from the Bulgarian captain. Candide also killed him.
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Jacque
– A kind Anabapist who took Candide under his wings. He died of drowning in the sea.
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The Marchioness of Parolignac – A cunning, sly socialite in Paris. She cheats Candide out of a great deal of money and steals some of his jeweled rings.
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Martin – A cynical scholar who accompanied Candide to Venice and stayed with him at the farm in Constantinople.
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The old woman – Cunegonde's servant after Don Issachar purchases Cunegonde from the Bulgarian captain. She suffered a lot in her lifetime but she always finds a reason to live through it all.
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Pacquette – A chambermaid of Cunegonde's mother, then become a mistress of Pangloss, and after that, she becomes a prostitute to support herself. As the philosopher and oracle of the Baron of Thunder's castle, he taught metaphysico-theologo-cosmolonigology.
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Pangloss – A philosopher who serves as the family oracle in the castle where Candide spends his childhood and adolescence. He used to believe the philosophy of undiluted optimism. At the end of the novel, he no longer believes it.
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Senator Seignor Pococurante – A wealthy Venetian with everything he ever want and yet he is bored of everything.
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Mynheer Vanderdendur – A cruel slave owner and thief who tricked Candide into paying a high price for sailing his ship, yet he left Candide behind when they sail out. However, the ship was attacked and sinked into the water.
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