Mr and Mrs Ramsay and their eight children have always holidayed at their summer house in Skye, surrounded by family friends.

The novel's opening section teems with the noise, complications, bruised emotions, joys and quiet tragedies of everyday family life that might go on forever.

But time passes, bringing with it war and death, and the summer home stands empty until one day, many years later, when the family return to make the long-postponed visit to the lighthouse.