Yuri Zhivago is a young doctor and rising poet, about to be married to Anna. He meets Lara (the teenage mistress of a politician) when she tries to kill herself. Lara marries the Bolshevik Antipov, and as the Great War unfolds Yuri and Lara go off to war to tend the wounded, fall in love and lead a passionate affair as the old régime collapses.

As World War I commences, Yury goes to the front, and Pasha runs away to join the army. Lara searches for Pasha and becomes a nurse. When the revolution begins, Yury and Lara work together at a cottage hospital and start to fall in love. Changed by his war experiences and time with Lara, Zhivago returns home to his wife and family in Moscow to find that conditions there are dramatically altered.

Having been captured by the Partisan, Yury grows sickened by the war and deserts. Tonya realizes who Lara is and tells her she will not take Yury back if he's still in love with her. Yury finally arrives at Lara's house almost dead, but meanwhile Komarovsky pursues Lara. Separated from his family and his love, Yury succumbs to poor health and Lara tries to pass on his legacy.