After the midday meal, Mrs. Ramsay agrees to let her six-year-old son James go to the lighthouse, provided the weather is good enough to ensure the crossing from the mainland is safe. James Ramsey is overjoyed, and he imagines the journey as he cuts out images from a catalogue of military equipment. When Mr. Ramsay announces that the weather will not be good, James experiences a sudden desire to harm his father. As she knits a stocking for the lighthouse keeper’s son, Mrs. Ramsay responds to her husband’s nay-saying with impatience. Charles Tansley, a guest of the Ramsay’s who has joined their summer holiday on the Isle of Skye, echoes Mr. Ramsay’s assertion that the weather will be poor. Though Mrs. Ramsay is protective of Tansley, whom the other Ramsay children mock, she also wants to protect James’s dream.

In Mrs. Ramsay’s memory, her eight children explain why they dislike Tansley and his bitter tone. She recalls the problems and arguments her children create, lamenting their antagonistic tendencies. She thinks about her own attempts to be charitable to people in need.