When Pierre introduces Natasha to Andrei, who has quit the army and been living a reclusive life to punish himself for neglecting his late wife, both she and Andrei are mutually smitten. Andrei's curmudgeonly father orders him to travel for a year to test his feelings for Natasha, which she initially accepts. Six months later Nikolai shocks his parents by declaring his love for Sonya, whom he hopes to marry, rather than the heiress Julie Karagina, the parents' choice. Ironically, Boris, still having sex with Helene, shows an interest in Julie as a wife whilst his mother desires a financially advantageous marriage to Andrei's sister Marya. After an awkward meeting with Andrei's family Natasha feels that they do not like her and is thus vulnerable when Helene introduces her to the amorous Anatole, with whom she is about to elope until Pierre steps in and informs her that he already has a wife in Poland. Natasha is devastated but Andrei is on his way back to Moscow and still in love with her.
—don @ minifie-1