Clarissa leaves her home in Westminster to buy flowers herself for the party she is hosting that evening.

A car backfires in the street outside a flower shop, startling Clarissa and violently disturbing the shell-shocked Septimus Smith nearby.

Londoners stop and gather on the street, watching an airplane write white letters across the London sky.

Clarissa returns home to discover that her husband has been invited to Lady Bruton's luncheon without her.

Peter Walsh arrives unannounced at Clarissa's attic room, surprising her while she mends a dress for the party.

Peter tells Clarissa he is in love with a woman in India and needs help arranging her divorce.

Peter bursts into tears on Clarissa's sofa; Elizabeth enters the room and Peter leaves abruptly.

Peter falls asleep on a bench in Regent's Park and wakes flooded with vivid memories of Bourton.

Rezia and Septimus walk through London to their appointment with specialist Dr. Bradshaw on Harley Street.

Dr. Bradshaw prescribes rest at one of his residential homes, effectively ordering Septimus to be separated from Rezia.

Richard Dalloway returns home with roses for Clarissa but cannot bring himself to say the words 'I love you.'

Septimus throws himself from the window of his flat onto the railings below and dies.

An ambulance speeds through London traffic past Peter Walsh, who admires it as a triumph of civilization.

Guests arrive at the Dalloway party, including the Prime Minister, who moves through the crowded room with Clarissa.

Lady Bradshaw informs Clarissa at the party that one of Dr. Bradshaw's patients threw himself from a window.

Clarissa begins her day by leaving home to buy flowers for her party, crossing a city unsettled by a backfiring car and a skywriting airplane that disturb both ordinary Londoners and a traumatized war veteran named Septimus Warren Smith. After discovering she was excluded from Lady Bruton's luncheon, Clarissa receives an unexpected visit from her old suitor Peter Walsh, who confesses his love for another woman before breaking down in tears on her sofa. Septimus and his wife Rezia visit Dr. Bradshaw on Harley Street, who prescribes institutionalization, while Richard Dalloway returns home with roses but cannot say he loves Clarissa. The day turns dark when Septimus throws himself to his death rather than face confinement, and Peter Walsh passes the ambulance without knowing whose body it carries. Clarissa's party that evening brings old friends and the Prime Minister together under one roof. The evening is shattered when Lady Bradshaw delivers news of a young veteran's suicide, forcing Clarissa to confront the darkest currents running beneath her carefully arranged social world.

The essential events of Clarissa's day, from morning errands to the party's end.

Walking to buy flowers, Clarissa thinks about Peter Walsh's dull letters from India and wonders when he will return.

Clarissa encounters her old childhood friend Hugh Whitbread during her morning walk through St. James's Park.

Clarissa thinks about Elizabeth and resents Miss Kilman for using her poverty to make the Dalloways feel guilty about their wealth.

Rezia walks to the fountain in Regent's Park, reflecting on her loneliness and grief over Septimus's declining mental state.

Septimus talks aloud to himself in the park, observes a sparrow on the railing, and alarms nearby observers.

After leaving Clarissa, Peter follows an attractive woman through London streets, imagining himself a romantic adventurer from India.

Peter gives money to an old woman singing a street song outside Regent's Park Tube Station.

Dr. Holmes visits Septimus repeatedly at home and each time concludes there is nothing seriously wrong with him.

Hugh Whitbread arrives at Lady Bruton's luncheon with red carnations; Richard Dalloway is also among the guests.

After lunch, Hugh composes a letter to the Times on Lady Bruton's behalf, to her great satisfaction.

Richard accompanies Hugh to a shop to select a necklace for Mrs. Whitbread before heading home to Clarissa.

Elizabeth and Miss Kilman shop and have tea; Miss Kilman confesses she is plain, unhappy, and never invited to parties.

After Elizabeth leaves the tea table, Miss Kilman walks to Westminster Cathedral to pray and soothe herself.

Elizabeth spontaneously boards a bus and walks toward St. Paul's Cathedral, feeling like a pioneer exploring London alone.

Peter Walsh and Sally Seton sit together at the party and discuss Clarissa's snobbery, generosity, and marriage to Richard.

Alongside the novel's main events, a rich tapestry of secondary moments shapes the course of the day. Clarissa crosses paths with Hugh Whitbread, resents Miss Kilman's moral pressure over Elizabeth, and Peter Walsh wanders London following a stranger through the streets before dozing in Regent's Park. Dr. Holmes repeatedly dismisses Septimus's suffering, while Lady Bruton's luncheon becomes a gathering where old memories of Peter are warmly recalled and Hugh is put to work composing letters for the newspaper. Elizabeth Dalloway briefly rebels by boarding a random bus toward an unfamiliar part of London, while Miss Kilman, left alone after tea, retreats to pray at Westminster Cathedral. The party concludes with Peter and Sally reflecting together on Clarissa's complex character, filling in the emotional texture of a day that has already carried so much weight.

The supporting moments and subplots that fill out the novel's single day.

Walking to the flower shop, Clarissa confronts thoughts of aging and the certainty of her own eventual death.

Septimus weeps openly at the beauty of the skywriting airplane, certain the plane is sending him a personal message.

Clarissa acknowledges to herself that she sometimes yields to the charm of women, recalling Sally Seton's kiss at Bourton.

After Peter's visit, Clarissa realizes Richard is lunching with Lady Bruton and thinks bitterly, 'I am alone forever.'

Peter remembers the exact night at Bourton when Clarissa finally and completely rejected him, making clear she would marry Richard.

In Regent's Park, Rezia removes her wedding ring for fear of losing it from her now-thin finger.

Septimus sees a vision of his dead officer Evans standing before him in the park, unchanged and unwounded.

Rezia weeps over wanting a child; a devastated Septimus finally agrees to seek medical help for the first time.

At Lady Bruton's luncheon, Richard privately resolves to go home and tell Clarissa directly that he loves her.

Septimus looks at Rezia's completed hat with deep admiration, feeling prouder of it than of anything he has ever done.

Rezia steps out to intercept Dr. Holmes on the stairs, leaving Septimus alone in the flat for the last time.

Peter reads a warm note from Clarissa at his hotel and decides he will attend her party that evening.

Sally Seton appears unexpectedly at Clarissa's party; Clarissa is deeply moved and joyful to see her old friend.

Clarissa withdraws from the party to a small room and reflects on the young veteran's death and her own feelings about suicide.

Peter spots Clarissa across the party room and feels a sudden extraordinary rush of excitement at the sight of her.

The novel's emotional architecture is built on a series of private revelations and decisive turning points. Clarissa confronts her own mortality and her suppressed attraction to women; Peter Walsh faces the painful memory of being rejected by Clarissa at Bourton; and Septimus is tormented by visions of his dead officer Evans while Rezia quietly removes her wedding ring in despair. Septimus's backstory reveals a man broken by war who only agrees to seek help after Rezia's tears finally reach him, before Dr. Bradshaw's verdict seals his fate. At home, Richard's silent gift of roses stands in for the love he cannot speak, while Septimus and Rezia share one last tender moment over a finished hat before she unknowingly leaves him alone for the final time. The party becomes its own arena of revelation: Sally Seton's surprise appearance stirs Clarissa's buried longings, the news of a stranger's suicide sends her into private reckoning, and the evening closes with Peter feeling a rush of excitement at the sight of Clarissa — suggesting some feelings can never fully be resolved.