"The Hours" is centered on the book "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf and its effects on three very different women in very different time periods. In 1923, Woolf (Nicole Kidman) is just beginning to write the book when she receives a visit from her sister, Vanessa. This visit brings up a lot of confusing thoughts for Woolf regarding her happiness and her fragile emotional state eventually leads her to commit suicide. In 1951, Laura Brown (Julianne Moore) is a pearls-and-pumps stay-at-home mother with a young son and a baby on the way. While reading "Mrs. Dalloway", Laura is planning a birthday party for her husband and doubting her abilities as a mother. This may be the life she dreamed of, but is it the life that is going to make her happy? In present-day New York, Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep) is also planning a party, this time for a friend who is receiving an award for his poetry. Although she is a lesbian in a relationship, Clarissa begins questioning whether she has feelings for this friend and if she is living the life that would bring her ultimate joy.