jupyter notebook execution not working properly

I'm trying to run a jupyter notebook in intellij (with python plugin). Creating a working instance of the jupyter notebook works, i.e. I can open http://localhost:8888/tree/ in a browser and work from there. However, within intellij I get somewhat unexpected behavior.

1. When running the jupyter notebook according to the documentation (click run, and then choosing the second option, not connecting to an existing notebook, but rather running a new instance, the Jupyter Notebook tab of the Run tool window does not open. Instead, the regular Run tool window opens with the following content:

[conda-environment-path]\pythonw.exe C:\Users\[user]\.IntelliJIdea2018.1\config\plugins\python\helpers\pycharm\pycharm_load_entry_point.py notebook --no-browser --ip 127.0.0.1 --port 8888 --port-retries=0

2. When trying to run a code cell, it gets marked with an asterisk as expected, however it does not execute properly. The content is a simple import. Side note: intellij says it cannot find a reference from within the jupyter notebook, although the same code works fine from within a regular python file at the same location and when executing the jupyter notebook from within the browser, it works, as well.

Any idea what would cause this behavior?

(Beware, I am new to jupyter notebooks and intellij with python)