Tuhia he tohumate mo tēnei wāhanga - I Saint Petersburg i te tau 1805, ka whakauruhia a Pierre Bezukhov, te tama tāne o tētahi rangatira whai rawa, 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 taua wa, ka uru a Andrei ki te pakanga kaore i angitu i Austria, i reira ia i kite ai i te Pakanga o Schöngrabern
i te Pakanga o Austerlitz, i whara kinotia, i pohehetia hoki he tupapaku. 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.