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Synopsis:
When Mr. Bingley—a single young man in possession of a good fortune—rents a home in the neighborhood of Meryton, there is immediate excitement. Mrs. Bennet, the mother of five daughters, sees the event as “a fine thing for our girls,” since Mr. Bingley will likely marry one of them. In fact, the eligible and good-humored Mr. Bingley is immediately smitten with Jane, the eldest. Mr. Bingley’s friend, Mr. Darcy, makes a less favorable first impression, as he is overheard at a ball speaking disparagingly of Elizabeth Bennet—by Elizabeth herself.

While the relationship between Jane and Bingley, aided by Mrs. Bennet’s machinations, seems to progress smoothly toward marriage, the relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy grows more complicated. Darcy finds Elizabeth increasingly—and disturbingly—attractive, but Elizabeth finds more to dislike in him. Rather, she is attracted to Wickham, an officer in the regiment of the militia quartered in Meryton, who informs her that Darcy is responsible for his penniless state and thus for his having to marry a woman with money.

Meanwhile, another single man in want of a wife arrives in the neighborhood. Mr. Collins, a minister and the cousin who will inherit Mr. Bennet’s estate, is also interested in Elizabeth. He proposes, and she refuses, to her mother’s chagrin. He immediately proposes again, this time to Elizabeth’s practical friend Charlotte Lucas, who just as quickly accepts. Both Elizabeth and her mother are horrified: Elizabeth, because her friend seems to have made a cynical bargain; her mother, because not only has she failed to secure Mr. Collins for one of her daughters, but also because her neighbors’ daughter will inherit their estate, Longbourn, when Mr. Bennet dies.

Mrs. Bennet has further cause for concern when two other potential suitors remove themselves. Bingley suddenly leaves for London, with no apparent intention of returning. Wickham is poised to engage himself to a Miss King, who has just come into an inheritance. Jane, quietly melancholy, visits her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, in London, but never sees Bingley.

While Jane is in London, Elizabeth spends a couple of months with the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Collins, where she not only meets Darcy’s overbearing aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, but also sees more of Darcy himself. Her suspicions that he and Miss Bingley are responsible for Bingley’s precipitous desertion of Jane, however, increase her dislike. When Darcy proposes marriage (in rather insulting terms), she is not only surprised but even indignant in her refusal.

Darcy is also angry, but he provides a defense that changes her understanding of the truth. After their mutual revelations, both Darcy and Elizabeth have some growing to do. Elizabeth has to reexamine her family, her ability to evaluate character and her own sense of self. Darcy has to look at his own character and relationships. When Elizabeth, touring Derbyshire with the Gardiners, meets Darcy at his estate, Pemberley, each has a chance to see how the other has changed.

But lest we move too quickly toward felicity, another complication arises: The impetuous Lydia runs off with Wickham. Will the disgrace prevent the Bennet sisters from finding happiness?