Clarissa Dalloway, elegant and vivacious, is preparing for a party and remembering those she once loved. In another part of London, Septimus Warren Smith is shell-shocked and on the brink of madness. Smith"s day interweaves with that of Clarissa and her friends, their lives converging as the party reaches its glittering climax.

Past, present and future are brought together one momentous June day in 1923.