When Gabriel seeks help to protect the hayricks from an approaching storm, Troy, belligerent and drunk, refuses to take him seriously. Returning to the farm, the newly married couple celebrate with all the workers and Troy begins to show his bad side. Gabriel warns her against Troy, but she elopes with him.

He embraces her passionately and Bathsheba is left in a daze. At their rendezvous in the woods, he shows off his swordplay, telling her not to flinch as he swings his sword around her head and body. He flirts with Bathsheba and arranges a secret meeting. One night while out walking, Bathsheba meets Frank Troy, who expresses admiration for her the next day he returns to help with the harvest. She is stung by his criticism, and fires him, but the next day, given a crisis with the sheep that only he can manage, she goes after him and successfully persuades him to return. Bathsheba delays giving him a final answer, and Gabriel admonishes her for toying with Boldwood's affections. Bathsheba sends Boldwood a Valentine as a joke, and he, both offended and intrigued, soon proposes marriage. While in town trading her seed, Bathsheba sees her neighbour William Boldwood ( Michael Sheen), a prosperous and mature bachelor. In the meantime, Fanny goes to the wrong church for her wedding and Troy, apparently jilted, is devastated. At dawn the next day, he is introduced to the farm's new mistress, Bathsheba, who hires him as a shepherd.

Gabriel arrives to find several buildings on fire and saves the barn from destruction. She suggests Gabriel seek employment at a farm in Weatherbury. A girl, Fanny Robbin, points out one of the soldiers, Sergeant Frank Troy, her sweetheart. While at a fair trying to find employment, Gabriel sees recruiting officers. In contrast, Bathsheba inherits a farm from her uncle and leaves to take charge of it. After settling his debts, he is penniless, and leaves in search of work. One night, a new sheepdog chases Gabriel's entire flock off a cliff. As they get to know one another, he proposes, but the headstrong Bathsheba declines, saying she is too independent. While Bathsheba Everdene ( Carey Mulligan) is working on her aunt's farm in Dorset, she meets a neighbouring farmer, Gabriel Oak ( Matthias Schoenaerts). The film is set in about 1870 in Britain. An adaptation by David Nicholls of the 1874 novel Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, it is the fourth film adaptation of the novel. Far from the Madding Crowd is a 2015 British romantic drama film directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Tom Sturridge, Michael Sheen, and Juno Temple.

Far from the maddening crowds