A novel in three parts about the Ramsay family and their guests at a house on the Isle of Skye. In the first part, young James Ramsay hopes for a trip to a nearby lighthouse, but his father says the weather will not allow it. Mrs Ramsay, warm and watchful, draws people together, while a painter, Lily Briscoe, struggles with her picture. The years then pass, and the family returns to a changed house. The book explores marriage, family, art and the passing of time, and is among the finest examples of modernist fiction.