Twenty years after leaving for the Trojan War, Odysseus fights his way home across a hostile sea only to find his kingdom overrun — and must return in disguise to reclaim his wife, his son, and his throne from the suitors laying siege to his house.

1. Scenes 1–9

   Ithaca frozen in a decade of waiting: Penelope weaving, the suitors feasting, Telemachus unheard.

2. Just before
3. Scene 21

   Flashback: young Penelope and Odysseus in bed with infant Telemachus, as Odysseus explains Agamemnon's true, mercantile reason for the Trojan War.

4. Scene 22

   Present: Penelope warns that without a king, Ithaca can't defend itself if the Sea People threat is real.

5. Scene 23

   Penelope tests Telemachus by handing him Odysseus's bow to string — he fails, proving he isn't yet ready to claim the throne.

6. Scene 24

   This scene