The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.

In 1805 St. Petersburg, Pierre Bezukhov, illegitimate son of a rich nobleman, is introduced to high society. His friend, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, joins the Imperial Russian Army as aide-de-camp of General Mikhail Kutuzov in the War of the Third Coalition against General Napoleon Bonaparte. Part one of the four-part adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's 1869 novel.

Based on Finnish mythology; Lemminkäinen woos the fair Annikki and battles the evil witch Louhi. Louhi kidnaps Annikki to compel her brother to build for her a Sampo, a magical device that creates salt, grain, and gold. When Lemminkäinen fails to recover the Sampo, Louhi steals the sun, plunging the world into frozen darkness.