Ok, this is a bit obvious. Almost every book reader knows this one.
The opening lines to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." And that sets the tone for the book.
Set in the English countryside in a county roughly thirty miles from London, the novel opens with the Bennet family in Longbourn and their five unmarried daughters. The family itself is not nearly as rich as those they interact with and because they have no sons, the property is entailed to pass to a male heir, in this case Mr. Collins. Mrs. Bennet is intent on seeing her daughters married off to wealthy men and when Charles Bingley arrives at nearby Netherfield Park she is excited by the prospect of introducing her daughters to him. She immediately sends her husband to visit him on the first day he arrives.
When he next arrives, Bingley brings with him Mr. Darcy and his two sisters, Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst. Bingley is immediately attracted to Jane Bennet, the oldest of the five sisters. Darcy, unlike the social apt Bingley, is proud and rude, immediately insulting Elizabeth Bennet when someone suggests he asks her to dance, insulting her appearance. Later, at the next dance after witnessing the sharpness of her mind, Darcy displays an attraction to Elizabeth at a second ball, but she refuses him because of how the insults he heaped upon her before.
Jane and Bingley however only become closer and when Jane becomes ill on a visit to Netherfield, she stays there for a few days, asking Elizabeth to join her and help care for her. During her stay, Elizabeth is forced to confront Darcy again and again and while she is still disinterested in him, he begins to fall for her wit and frank approach to conversation, being so used to pretty words from other women. Elizabeth quickly realizes that Miss Bingley largely dislikes the Bennet family and that she only pretends to be friends with Jane.
Soon after, Bingley, his sisters, and Darcy depart for London, announcing to Jane that they have no intentions of returning to Netherfield anytime soon and that Bingley will likely marry another woman, Miss Darcy, Mr. Darcy’s sister.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth meets Mr. Wickham who she immediately is drawn towards. He tells her falsehoods about his relationship with Mr. Darcy, that he was cheated out of a piece of inheritance from Darcy’s father. However, Wickham soon takes up with another woman who he plans to marry and Elizabeth, after the careful warnings of her family leaves him be.
So, what happens to Elizabeth vs Mr Darcy vs Mr Wickham, and the other story Jane vs Mr Bingley?
(Taken from wikisummaries)
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