The early mornings of three women are depicted. Clarissa Vaughn goes to buy flowers. She is hosting a party that evening as a sort of "farewell" for her best friend and ex-partner, Richard, who is dying of AIDS. Virginia Woolf wakes up thinking about powering through her writers' block and finally getting started on her new novel which will detail a day in the life of her main character, Clarissa Dalloway. She greets her husband as he goes through proofs and she returns to her room, skipping breakfast. The third woman we are introduced to is Laura Brown, reading "Mrs Dalloway" as she lies in bed in Los Angeles in the later stages of the 1940s. She is a little frustrated and depressed about her life, preferring to stay in bed for a couple hours reading than going downstairs to wish her husband a happy birthday or to make him and their young son, Richie, breakfast. When she does eventually go downstairs Dan leaves for work and Laura is left home with Richie.
Late morning; Clarissa Vaughn visits Richard in his apartment which is a mess. Richard is to be awarded a prize but feels undeserving of it, despite Clarissa's efforts to convince him that it is actually much deserved. Virginia Woolf has a headache and cannot concentrate to write. Her health issues forced a move out of London to the suburbs at her husband's insistence but she misses the city and would much prefer to return. She smooths over an argument between Leonard and his assistant before sitting down to rest. Shortly before lunch she goes for a walk to think more about Clarissa Dalloway and how to develop her. She decided that she will have once lived a woman and that ultimately she will commit suicide. Virginia returns home to find an angry cook whose mood is not improved when she finds out that Virginia's sister, Vanessa, and her family are coming to tea that afternoon and because of this Cook will have to go into London for some specific niche ingredients. Laura Brown and her little boy bake a birthday cake for Dan.
Lunchtime, and Clarissa Vaughn bumps into her girlfriend, Sally; Sally is planning to have lunch with a friend who happens to be a well-known actress. Clarissa is disappointed not to be included. She is starting to feel alienated from her house and from her own life, missing the days when she and Richard were still together and the happy summers they spent in Wellfleet. She is starting to think these were the only happy times in her life. Laura and Rucie finish baking their cake but Laura, a perfectionist, is disappointed that is is not the work of art she envisaged. Her neighbor stops by to tell her that she has to go to the hospital for tests and Laura gives her a sympathetic hug which she finds inexplicably moving.
Early afternoon; Vanessa surprises Virginia by arriving several hours early for tea. Vanessa's children find a dying bird in the backyard and with their Aunt's help make it comfortable in a soft, grassy bed. Clarissa Vaughn also has a guest - Louis, one of Richard's former lovers, is visiting from San Francisco, but he leaves when Clarissa's daughter Julia shows up. Laura Brown has discarded the first cake that did not meet her expectations and baked a replacement. She is incredibly bored and needs to get away for a few hours so she drops Richie off at a neighbor's home and checks into a hotel just so that she can read in peace. "Mrs Dalloway" is making her reflective and after thinking about the concept of suicide for a little while she decides that she does not have it in her to kill herself.
Mid afternoon, and Vanessa and Virginia drink tea together in the kitchen. Because she is feeling happy Virginia decides that her character should be happier too and decides that Clarissa Dalloway will not kill herself after all. Clarissa Vaughn chats with her rebellious daughter and her combative friend Mary but Clarissa and Mary's personalities clash quite horribly and Mary and Julia leave to go shopping.
It's late afternoon and now Vanessa has left Virginia feels morose again. She tries to write but cannot and decides a walk might clear her head. She finds herself walking towards the station and wonders about taking the train back into London. However as she waits on the platform Leonard shows up and drives her home. Laura Brown collects her son from his babysitter and takes him home. As she watches him and her husband devour the birthday cake she realizes how dissatisfied she is with her life despite how perfect it looks from the outside. Clarissa Vaughn goes to Richard's apartment to pick him up to find him sitting on the window sill. He tells her that he loves her then he jumps to his death.
Bedtime; Virginia has convinced Leonard that what she really needs is to move back to London. She decides that although her "Mrs Dalloway" will not commit suicide in the novel, another character will do so. Laura Brown brushes her teeth and dreads her husband wanting sex.
At the end of the movie an older Laura visits present-day Clarissa Vaughn in the wake of her son Richie's death. Richie was Clarissa's ex-partner Richard, and both women reflect on the meaning of the passing of time.
