Ulysses begins at 8 AM on June 16,1904 when we meet Stephen Dedalus at the Martello Tower in Sandycove, south of Dublin. A later episode introduces Leopold Bloom at breakfast at his home in Eccles Street, Dublin, also at 8 AM. The novel ends at 2 AM the following morning with the celebrated 24,000-word soliloquy of Molly Bloom, the wife of Leopold Bloom. 

Between the opening and closing pages of the book, 18 episodes, loosely based on Homer’s Odyssey, record many details, some fictional, some based on historical and geographical facts, of life in Dublin on that day. In doing so, the book traces the activities, various conversations, and, through the use of the inner monologue, the thoughts of Bloom and Stephen throughout the day, up to and including their eventual meeting in the red-light district and subsequent late-night conversations in various other locations in the city.