Levin and Kitty have a five-week engagement so they marry before Lent. Levin is surprised to learn Kitty wants to return to the estate and set up house rather than taking a trip abroad. He accepts that she wants to support the work that is most important to him, even if she has no frame of reference for it.

Levin is alarmed when Oblonsky reminds him he must go to confession and receive communion in order to be married. The priest tells him doubt is common even in the lives of the most faithful, and that Levin must raise his children within Orthodoxy and learn what he believes so he can teach them. Levin is unhappy with himself as he dislikes vague philosophical attitudes and knows his religious doubts make him no better than those he critiques. But he spends a happy evening with Kitty, relieved the religious requirement is satisfied.

Before the wedding, Levin’s brother and friends take him to dinner, reminding him that marriage is a loss of freedom. Levin tells himself that Kitty’s love is enough, but then begins to doubt her affections, recalling Vronsky. He rushes to her for reassurance. He is sent away so she can prepare; everyone is absorbed in logistics.