Napoleon marches east across Europe, staining the map with blood…

Wounded at the battle of Austerlitz, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky returns home to his family to be greeted by tragedy – his wife has died giving birth to their son. Andrei retreats from the world, a broken man, but… at a ball in St Petersburg he meets the captivating young Natasha Rostova and so begins one of the greatest love stories of all time. They begin a secret engagement, planning to marry in a year, but at the opera one evening Natasha meets the cruel and amoral Anatole Kuragin who seduces her, and she breaks off her engagement to Andrei. Kuragin, it transpires, has a wife already: Natasha’s reputation is ruined. Finally, she and Andrei are reunited after the battle of Borodino: as he lies dying she begs his forgiveness…

Andrei’s sister Maria, a shy and devout young heiress, is pursued by unscrupulous fortune-hunters. Instead she devotes her life to bringing up her nephew, but as they flee from the marauding French army, she begins an affair with a young Russian officer – Natasha’s brother Nikolai. Meanwhile, Pierre Bezukhov, Andrei’s best friend, is tricked into a sham marriage with Hélène, Anatole’s beautiful but ruthless sister. She is having multiple sexual affairs behind his back (including, it is rumoured, with her own brother), forcing Pierre to fight a duel to defend his honour…