 His lack of direction leads him to fall in with a group of profligate young men like Anatole Kuragin and Dolokhov whose pranks and heavy drinking cause mild scandals.After a particularly outrageous escapade in which a policeman is strapped to the back of a bear and thrown into a river, Pierre is sent away from St. Petersburg.Pierre's life changes after he becomes the sole heir to his father's vast estate, and his position in society is changed from that of an illegitimate son to the new Count Bezukhov.