The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Barker, Pat. The Women of Troy. Penguin Random House LLC, 2021.

Pat Barker's novel The Women of Troy is a feminist retelling of the traditional Trojan horse tale. The novel is set in the days following the Greek and Trojan conflict. The narrative formally employs the past and present tenses, and is written from both the first and third person points of view. The following summary uses the present tense and adheres to a primarily linear mode of explanation.

The Greek soldiers crouch inside the wooden horse and approach the Trojan gates. Inside, the late Greek warrior Achilles's son Pyrrhus is overcome by fear. He is convinced that he will never live up to his father's reputation. In order to win his men's respect, he convinces himself that he must prove himself in this final battle. As soon as the soldiers burst from the horse, Pyrrhus rushes to the Trojan throne room where he brutally slays the Trojan king Priam. In order to seal his reputation as a fierce fighter and leader, Pyrrhus refuses to bury Priam.

In the days following the war's end, the Greeks are stranded on the Trojan beaches by a constant and powerful wind. They set up two camps: Agamemnon's compound and Pyrrhus's compound.

Briseis is just one of the women entrapped in Pyrrhus's compound. During the war, she watched Achilles kill her husband and brothers. He then took her as his prize, impregnating her with his child. Shortly before his death, Achilles made his loyal companion, Alcimus, promise to marry Briseis and protect his unborn child if anything were to happen to him.

In the narrative present, Briseis struggles to survive her new circumstances and position. Feeling perpetually alone and endangered, she tries befriending her new teenage maid, Amina. One day while walking on the beach together, the two women encounter their former king's unburied corpse. Amina is desperate to bury and honor him, but Briseis warns her of the dangers.

Then one night, Briseis returns to her tent and overhears the men talking. She learns that someone has buried Priam against Pyrrhus's orders. She soon discovers that Amina is responsible. Amina shows no shame or remorse. Pyrrhus's men excavate the body, and Pyrrhus threatens to kill anyone who tries to bury Priam again.

Not long later, another maid wakes Briseis in the night and reports Amina missing. Fearing that Amina is burying Priam again, Briseis sneaks out in search of her maid. She finds Amina finishing Priam's second burial. Desperate to save Amina from death, Briseis helps her finish the funeral prayers. Pyrrhus's men arrive and drag the women to Pyrrhus's hall. Pyrrhus jails them. Though Alcimus delivers Briseis, there is no one to advocate for Amina. Briseis sneaks to her maid's cell. She brings her food, and begs her to try to survive.

Still feeling weak and insecure, Pyrrhus becomes determined to punish the slave who dared defy him. He goes to Amina's cell where he interrogates, punches, and strangles her to death.

Shortly thereafter, Briseis visits the former Trojan priestess Cassandra and the Trojan priest Calchas. They inform her that Pyrrhus technically committed murder when he killed Priam. He violated the rules of his guest-friendship with Priam and thus offended the gods. They give this information to Agamemnon, who holds an assembly to announce Pyrrhus's punishment. To appease the gods and calm the wind, Pyrrhus must throw his stallion onto Priam's funeral pyre. Desperate to both atone for his misdeeds and save his innocent horse, Pyrrhus cuts off his hair and throws it into the fire instead. The next morning, the winds stop and the Greeks prepare to leave for home. Saddened that she must part from her friends, Briseis walks on the beach alone. She finds a starfish that gives her hope. Before leaving, she leaves daisies for Amina.