Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I Saint Petersburg i te tau 1805, ko Pierre Bezukhov, te tama i roto i te ture o te rangatira rangatira, ka whakauruhia ki te hapori nui. Ko tana hoa, ko Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, ka uru atu ki te ope taua Imperial Russian hei kaiawhina mo te rangatira o Mikhail Kutuzov i te Pakanga o te Tuatoru o te Whakawhanaunga ki a Napoleon. I te wa e mohio ana te papa o Pierre ki a ia, ka aro atu a Pierre ki a Hélène Kuragina ka marena ki a ia, na te rongo noa i te korero kua tinihanga ia me te moe ki a Fyodor Dolokhov, he hoa tata o te tuakana o Hélène, a Anatole. I tēnei wā, ka whai wāhi a Andrei ki te pakanga kāore i tutuki i Austria, kei reira ia e kite ana i te
Ko te Pakanga o Schöngrabern me te Pakanga o Austerlitz, i whara kino, i pohehe hoki mo te mate. Ka hoki ia ki te kainga o tona papa i te wa tika kia kite i tana wahine a Lisa e mate ana i te wa e whanau ana.