Pride and Prejudice recap

When wealthy Mr Bingley leases a nearby estate, Mrs Bennet schemes to marry off her daughters. Bingley falls for the gentle eldest, Jane, while his proud friend Mr Darcy slights the sharp-witted second daughter, Elizabeth, who comes to despise him, especially after a charming officer, Wickham, claims Darcy wronged him. Darcy, drawn to Elizabeth despite himself, proposes and is angrily refused; his explaining letter exposes Wickham as a scoundrel and admits he parted Bingley from Jane. Elizabeth's opinion slowly reverses, above all after she sees Darcy transformed at his estate. When her reckless sister Lydia elopes with Wickham, Darcy secretly rescues the family by arranging the marriage. Bingley returns and weds Jane; Darcy, his pride humbled and Elizabeth's prejudice gone, proposes again and is accepted. The two eldest Bennet sisters marry the men they love.

The arrival of a wealthy, unmarried gentleman, Mr Bingley, at Netherfield Park stirs the neighborhood, and Mrs Bennet is eager to match him with one of her five daughters. At the Meryton assembly the good-natured Bingley is instantly liked and dances twice with the beautiful, gentle eldest Bennet daughter, Jane. His friend Mr Darcy, though richer and more distinguished, gives offense with his cold, proud manner and dismisses the second daughter, the clever and lively Elizabeth, as not handsome enough to tempt him. Elizabeth, amused and affronted, resolves to dislike him. As the families mix at further gatherings, Jane and Bingley are drawn together, while Darcy, against his own inclination, begins to find himself attracted to Elizabeth's fine eyes and quick spirit, though she remains wholly unaware of any change in him.

Jane is invited to Netherfield and, sent there on horseback in the rain by her scheming mother, catches cold and must stay to recover, which brings Elizabeth to nurse her. During the visit Elizabeth spars wittily with Darcy and with Bingley's haughty sister, Caroline, who wants Darcy for herself and looks down on the Bennets' modest connections. Darcy's admiration for Elizabeth grows even as he guards against it, and Caroline's efforts to belittle her only draw his notice more. Once Jane is well, the sisters return home to Longbourn, while Bingley's party stays on at Netherfield and the neighborhood continues to buzz with matches half-made.

Mr Collins, the pompous clergyman cousin who will inherit Longbourn under its entail, arrives and, after settling on Elizabeth, proposes to her; she firmly refuses him despite her mother's fury. Meanwhile the militia has come to Meryton, and Elizabeth is charmed by a handsome officer, Mr Wickham, who tells her that Darcy cheated him of a promised inheritance, hardening her poor opinion of Darcy. At a ball at Netherfield, Elizabeth dances with Darcy while her family repeatedly embarrasses her. Soon afterward Bingley abruptly leaves for London, and Caroline writes that the whole party has gone and hints that Bingley will marry Darcy's sister, dashing Jane's hopes. Stung by Elizabeth's refusal, Mr Collins swiftly proposes to her practical friend Charlotte Lucas, who accepts him for the security of a comfortable home.

Jane travels to London hoping to see Bingley, but Caroline coldly rebuffs her and Bingley never calls. In the spring Elizabeth visits the newly married Charlotte at Mr Collins's parsonage in Kent, beside the grand estate of his patroness, the imperious Lady Catherine de Bourgh. There Elizabeth again meets Darcy, who is visiting his aunt with his cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam. From the colonel she learns that Darcy boasted of separating Bingley from an unsuitable match, and she realizes he broke Jane's happiness. That same evening Darcy astonishes her by declaring his love and proposing, while dwelling on her family's inferiority. Angry over Jane and over Wickham, Elizabeth refuses him with spirit and accuses him of arrogance and injustice.

The next day Darcy gives Elizabeth a letter answering her charges. He admits parting Bingley from Jane, believing Jane indifferent, but reveals that Wickham is a liar and a fortune-hunter who once tried to elope with Darcy's young sister for her inheritance. Reading and rereading the letter, Elizabeth is mortified to see how badly she misjudged both men, and her feelings toward Darcy begin to soften. She returns to Longbourn, where her heedless youngest sister Lydia is invited to spend the summer at Brighton with the officers. Against her better judgement the family lets her go. Elizabeth then sets out on a tour of Derbyshire with her sensible aunt and uncle, the Gardiners.

In Derbyshire the Gardiners persuade Elizabeth to visit Pemberley, Darcy's estate, believing him away. The housekeeper praises him warmly, and then Darcy himself appears unexpectedly, now courteous and gracious to Elizabeth and kind to her relations. He introduces his shy sister, Georgiana, and Elizabeth's regard for him deepens. This new happiness is shattered by letters from Jane: Lydia has run away from Brighton with Wickham and is not married. Elizabeth confides the disaster to Darcy and hurries home. Mr Bennet and Mr Gardiner search London in vain, until word comes that the couple has been found and that Wickham has agreed to marry Lydia, apparently for a modest settlement, sparing the family total ruin.

Lydia and Wickham, now married, visit Longbourn shameless and unrepentant, and Lydia lets slip that Mr Darcy was present at the wedding. Elizabeth writes to her aunt and learns the truth: it was Darcy who found the couple, paid Wickham's debts, and bought the marriage, all in secret and for her sake. Soon Bingley returns to Netherfield with Darcy, and Bingley, his objections gone, proposes to Jane, who joyfully accepts. Elizabeth, now deeply in love with Darcy, dares to hope, though she cannot be sure of his feelings after everything that has passed between them.

Lady Catherine descends on Longbourn, having heard a rumor that Elizabeth is to marry Darcy, and demands that she promise never to accept him; Elizabeth refuses to be bullied. When Lady Catherine reports this defiance to her nephew, it gives Darcy fresh hope. He proposes to Elizabeth a second time, and she gladly accepts; each acknowledges how much they have changed. Jane marries Bingley and Elizabeth marries Darcy, the two eldest sisters settled in happy marriages of real affection. Lydia and Wickham drift on in careless debt, Mr Collins and Charlotte keep their comfortable parsonage, and even Lady Catherine is in time reconciled. Elizabeth takes her place as mistress of Pemberley.

Both the misunderstandings and the barriers of pride and social difference are overcome. Darcy, having secretly saved the Bennets by finding Lydia, paying Wickham's debts, and forcing their marriage, also withdraws his objection to Jane's match, and Bingley returns to propose to Jane, who accepts. Lady Catherine's attempt to forbid a union between Elizabeth and Darcy backfires by revealing to Darcy that Elizabeth may welcome him, and he proposes a second time. Elizabeth, whose feelings have reversed entirely, accepts. The novel closes with the two eldest sisters married to the men they love: Jane to Bingley, and Elizabeth to Darcy as mistress of Pemberley. Lydia and Wickham remain feckless and perpetually short of money, dependent on their richer relations. Mr Collins and Charlotte continue in their parsonage under Lady Catherine, who is eventually reconciled to the marriage. The Gardiners, who helped bring Elizabeth and Darcy together, stay close to the couple.