When Elizabeth Bennet first meets eligible bachelor Fitzwilliam Darcy; she thinks him arrogant and conceited; he is indifferent to her good looks and lively mind. When she later discovers that Darcy has involved himself in the troubled relationship between his friend Bingley and her beloved sister Jane; she is determined to dislike him more than ever. In the sparkling comedy of manners that follows; Jane Austen shows the folly of judging by first impressions and superbly evokes the friendships; gossip and snobberies of provincial middle-class life.