Part 4, Chapter 1
- After her failed attempt at murder, Lara lies in a swoon in bed. Meanwhile, the lawyer Komarovsky is worried that the truth about them will come out and ruin him. He decides that he needs to do everything in his power to make this whole thing go away.
- Komarovsky goes to a friend's house and rents out a room for Lara to stay in on his dime. He arranges to have Lara transported there. It turns out that Lara actually has a legit fever, and it's getting worse.
Part 4, Chapter 2
- While she recovers in bed, Lara is visited by Komarovsky. She hates his presence, but she has to tolerate it, because Komarovsky has the power to have her charges dropped.
- When Kologrivov visits, Lara is a lot happier. Kologrivov forces her to take a large check to help her get back on her feet. She tries to refuse it, but he won't let her.
- The money allows Lara, once she's better, to move out of Komarovsky's spot and get her own place.
Part 4, Chapter 3
- While Lara is recovering, her boyfriend Pasha isn't allowed to see her. This, of course, makes Pasha stew about all kind of things. Why, he wonders, did Lara try to kill the Komarovsky guy, and why is this guy now paying for her new apartment? It doesn't take much intuition for Pasha to realize that something has gone on between Lara and this dude.
- When Pasha finally visits her, she tells him to leave her and to never think about her again. She declares that she's not worthy of his love, because she's a bad person.
- To spare Pasha the humiliation of being with her after this incident, Lara tells him that she doesn't love him and that he should go away. But instead, the two of them get married immediately, before they've even finished their high school exams.
- There's a big party at their new house. After the guests leave, Pasha feels a little uncomfortable at how silent the house is.
- Finally, now that they're married, Lara tells Pasha everything about her relationship with Komarovsky. The news is devastating to Pasha.
- The next morning, we are told that Pasha wakes up as a completely different person, though we're not sure yet how he's changed.
Part 4, Chapter 4
- Before you know it, Lara and Pasha's friends are throwing them a farewell party. They have both found jobs in the same small town in the Ural Mountains.
- Amazingly, Komarovsky gets invited because he is, after all, the only reason Lara isn't in jail. He tells the couple that he thinks of them as his children and is sad to see them go. This is a super creepy comment coming from him, considering his past with Lara.
- Lara and Pasha, though, are more than happy to never be in contact with Komarovsky again.
- Eventually, everyone at the party passes out on the floor. While everyone is sleeping, Lara is awakened by a conversation and discovers two guys robbing the house. She screams, but the guys run away before the hungover guests can get to their feet and chase them.
- Despite the unfortunate robbery, none of Lara's best jewels got stolen. So she and Pasha send their guests away and make it to their train on time.
Part 4, Chapter 5
- At this point, the narrator tells us that we're into the second year of World War I (probably 1915). Russia is at war with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Yup, that second one doesn't even exist anymore.
- We walk in on Yuri, who's older and now has a profession. Now people call him... wait for it... Doctor Zhivago. That's the book's title! Zhivago is in a hospital waiting for his wife Tonya. It sounds like she is giving birth to their first child.
- A doctor's assistant comes out to tell Zhivago that he should go home, since his wife won't deliver their baby until the next day.
- Before he can even get out the door, though, Zhivago hears Tonya screaming. Moments later, he can hear a baby crying. That's one quick birth. Zhivago now has a baby son.
- Unfortunately, Zhivago doesn't really feel very connected to this new baby. He feels like he hasn't had anything to do with its birth. His main concern is Tonya.
- While he's peeking at his wife and son through a crack in the doors, Zhivago is interrupted by a young hospital intern. It turns out that one of Zhivago's controversial diagnoses has turned out to be right, and he is now something of a celebrity in the hospital.
- At this point, a head doctor comes in and tells Zhivago that there's also some bad news. Zhivago has been called to the front to work as a medical doctor in the army.
- Bummer.
Part 4, Chapter 6
- Lara and Pasha Antipov move to a town called Yuriatin. This turns out to be the town that Lara's family comes from, so the adjustment isn't as bad as it could have been.
- Lara becomes totally immersed in her work as a teacher and mother. Did we mention that she now has a daughter with Pasha whose name is Katenka?
- Life is perfect, which is exactly why it starts to bother Pasha so much. The guy starts to become super bored, and he starts having trouble sleeping.
- Eventually, Pasha decides that he can't go on like this. He needs to do something to get away from his family. He's not happy with the options of divorce or suicide, though, because they're kind of harsh.
- So what's his big solution? The dude decides to volunteer for the army.
Part 4, Chapter 7
- As you can imagine, Lara loses her mind when she hears that her husband has signed up for the army.
- Once he's gone, though, Pasha begins to realize how much he misses his wife and child. He writes letters home all the time.
- Eventually, these letters stop coming. Lara tries to tell herself that it must be hard to write from the front. But she gets more worried, anyway.
- So what does Lara do? She studies to become a nurse and gets sent to the front to find her husband. She leaves her daughter Katenka in the care of her housekeeper.
Part 4, Chapter 8
- Now we're suddenly following Misha Gordon, who is travelling around and looking for his boyhood friend, Yuri Zhivago.
- After taking a bunch of side roads through the bombed-out countryside, Misha finds the town that Zhivago is staying in. He doesn't plan to stay long with his friend, but he actually ends up staying more than a week with him since the battles have made travel impossible.
Part 4, Chapter 9
- Close to where Gordon and Zhivago are, we learn that Pasha Antipov's unit has been surrounded by Germans, and Pasha has been taken prisoner. This gives rise to a bunch of rumors that Pasha was killed in battle.
- The main guy who spreads these rumors is named Galiullin, who is a lieutenant in the same regiment as Pasha.
- Once the fighting settles down, Galiullin is put in charge of giving Antipov's personal belongings back to his wife, Lara.
- Before Pasha died, Galiullin was amazed at how much the guy had changed since he was a bashful little boy.
- Eventually, Galiullin receives word that Lara wants to know where her husband is. But he decides not to respond to her, hoping to find a better occasion to tell her that Pasha is dead.
Part 4, Chapter 10
- We look in on Gordon chatting with Zhivago about whether they'll have any horses for travelling. Zhivago tells him that there's still no way of getting anywhere with all the fighting going on.
- Later in the day, a bunch of mutilated soldiers start getting brought in from the front. Misha Gordon is grossed out, but Zhivago works on them quickly and effectively.
- While this is happening, a nurse comes up to Zhivago and Gordon to help them with the wounded. The nurse is—you guessed it—none other than Lara.
Part 4, Chapter 11
- While Gordon and Zhivago go home after a tough day, they see a Russian soldier teasing an old Jewish man with a piece of money. Zhivago calls the soldier over and reprimands him for such terrible behavior.
- For the rest of the journey, Zhivago gives a speech about how disgustingly the Russians treat Jewish people, and for no reason other than the fact that these people are Jewish.
Part 4, Chapter 12
- During the night, Zhivago talks to Misha Gordon about his experience of seeing the Russian tsar visiting his regiment at the war front. The guy showed up on a fancy private train with Zhivago's uncle Nikolai, who is apparently a grand duke now.
- The tsar wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do, and he kept needing instructions from Nikolai about what he was supposed to say and do.
- Again, Zhivago and Gordon have a long conversation about philosophy. Zhivago insists that any sort of group-based thinking eventually serves the interests of the weakest and most mediocre people in that group. Only a philosophy that respects the power of the individual can bring beauty and truth to the world.
Part 4, Chapter 13
- It sounds like the battle has moved too close for comfort, and that Gordon and Zhivago are planning to leave the town they're staying in.
- The fighting starts, and Zhivago guides Gordon toward his train. Then he runs back to his house and tells Gordon he'll catch up with him later.
- On his way back to his house, though, Zhivago is hit by shrapnel from an exploding bomb and wounded. He loses consciousness in the middle of the street.
Part 4, Chapter 14
- Zhivago is recovering in an army field hospital. Lieutenant Galiullin is lying in the bed next to him.
- Zhivago reads a bunch of letters from his wife Tonya until Lara the nurse walks in. Galiullin recognizes her and says he has her husband's things to give her.
- Lara insists that she has heard about her husband's death and asks to hear about exactly what Galiullin saw at the front. He doesn't have the heart to confirm what she says, though. He tells her instead that Antipov was taken prisoner. He thinks this is a lie, but it's actually true.
- Lara's first impression of Zhivago is that he's unfriendly and not all that attractive to look at. But she also realizes that he has a keen and active mind with a fierce intelligence.
- Having heard it confirmed that Pasha is dead, Lara decides to go home to her daughter, since becoming a nurse was something she only did for the sake of finding Pasha.
- While in the hospital, Yuri finds out that Misha Gordon and another guy named Dudorov have released one of his little diary-books without his permission. Apparently, the book has been a big success.
- Meanwhile, Lara asks Galiullin about himself and finds out that he grew up very close to where she did in Moscow. Small world.
- The chapter ends with a dude on crutches bursting into the room and announcing that there's a revolution happening in Russia. The workers are shooting in the streets and it looks like the time has come for the upper classes to fall.