Plot Overview 

     Virginia Woolf did not focus To the Lighthouse around a plot.  The entire story was written with the purpose of analyzing the characters emotions and state of mind.  Because of this, there is little moving plot in this story and when something does happen, it is very easy to overlook  Virginia Woolf wrote her novel in three sections:  The Window, Time Passes, and To the Lighthouse.  The plot overview is broken down accordingly.

The Window

     This part of the story is but a small sample of the everyday lives of a family and the people that surround them.  James Ramsey wants to go to the lighthouse, an idea that his mother thinks is a fine one, but that his father, a controlling, condescending man whom James loathes, quickly puts down.  This reaction to James desire will become something that troubles Mrs. Ramsey deeply.  She tries to distract James with a cutting arts and crafts project.  A girl Lily, a young painter, takes a walk with the much older Mr. Bankes, a botanist and a widower who is fond of Lily.  Mr. Ramsey dreams of fame after a fight with his wife about the lighthouse.  Mr. Bankes and Lily discuss their opinions of Mr. Ramsay. 

     Later Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey walk and talk about many of the things going on around them.  Mr. R does not apologize about the fight.  While they are on their walk they see Lily and Mr. Bankes walking together and agree that they must get married.

     There is a dinner party and the Ramsey’s are preparing for it.  The dinner is almost a disaster; there are awkward moments and tensions between the dinner guests at first.  In the end, however, it ends up being a good time and everyone enjoys it.  The first part of the book ends with the Ramsey’s in bed reading.  Mrs. Ramsey wishes Mr. Ramsey will talk, and Mr. Ramsey wishes that his wife would say she loves him.

  Time Passes

     Just as the title of this section of the story implies “time passes” and it passes quickly.  Many years go by.  As previously mentioned, plot is of little importance to Virginia Woolf.  This is seen most in the way the characters’ deaths are presented; they are presenting in brackets and never more than a few sentences long.  We learn that Mrs. Ramsey has died.  Spring arrives.  Prue marries but dies during childbirth.  Andrew dies in the war when a shell explodes.  More seasons pass.  The house has become shabby and rundown – no one ever comes to stay there anymore, and Mrs. McNab, the housemaid cannot keep it up by herself.  She gives up on the house until she gets a letter that the family will be coming to stay there in the summer.  With the help of the Bast’s, they clean up the house and prepare it for the family’s arrival.  Lily is the first to come – she arrives in September.  Soon the rest of the Ramsey’s arrive with Mr. Carmichael and Mrs. Beckwith.

 The Lighthouse

     We find out that ten years have passed.  Mr. R, James, and Cam have planned to take a trip to the lighthouse.  Mr. Ramsey gets impatient when the children are late in getting ready the day they are scheduled to go.  Lily decides to restart the painting she had begun ten years before.  The Ramsey’s take off to the lighthouse while Lily stays behind with Mr. Carmichael and paints.  While she is painting, she ponders the meaning of life.  On the boat with the Ramsey’s, there is much tension, especially between James and his father; James no longer wants to go to the lighthouse.  Cam has difficulty with her two emotions; she loves her father but also hates him for being tyrannical when they were younger.