The lives of seven characters-Bernard, Louis, Neville, Jinny, Susan, Rhoda, and Percival-are recounted from childhood to adulthood through personal reflections interspersed with scenes from the English coast at varying points in a single day. Recognized as Virginia Woolf's most experimental novel, The Waves forsakes plot structure in favour of soliloquies that flow from one character to the next as the group moves from their schooldays to their professional adulthood.