Painter Vanessa Stephen and her writer sister Virginia embark on a life of unexpected, post-Victorian freedom in bohemian Bloomsbury. But when they are introduced to flamboyant male admirers, their idyll is rocked and the sisters' relationship is threatened.

As war descends on Europe, the Bloomsbury friends struggle to build a life outside London. Virginia weds Leonard Woolf and begins a unique, unexpectedly happy marriage, which is in stark contrast to Vanessa and Clive's failing relationship. Vanessa comes to the painful realisation that she is in love with gay Duncan Grant and so begins a life devoted to him, painting and her children.

Twenty years have passed and it is 1937. Duncan and Vanessa remain at Charleston Farmhouse, painting, living and loving alongside each other. Vanessa’s children Julian, Quentin and Angelica also live with them. Julian is determined to fight against Franco in the Spanish civil war, while Angelica, who remains unaware of her true parentage, goes to London to become an actress.