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Homer asks for the gift of storytelling from the goddesses the Muses so he can tell the great tale of Odysseus' adventures as he sails home to Ithaca from the Trojan War.

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Athena asks Zeus to help Odysseus find his way home. He has been lost at sea for 10 years and away from home for 20 years.

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Hermes, sent by Zeus to the island where the goddess Calypso has been holding Odysseus for seven years, tells Calypso that she has to let Odysseus leave. While there, Odysseus has not been faithful to his wife, even though he is longing to get home. Calypso, however, recognizes that Odysseus wishes to return home to his wife, Penelope.

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With the help of Calypso, Odysseus builds a raft to escape the island. He sails for 20 days until he is in sight of the island Scheria. His raft gets destroyed in a storm so he has to swim to Scheria, where Athena blessed him with sleep after his struggles.

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Book 9: New Coasts and Poseidon's Son: "I am Laertes' Son"

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Book 9: New Coasts and Poseidon's Son: "I am Laertes' Son"

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At a banquet on Scheria, Odysseus introduces himself to King Alcinous as Laertes' son. He recounts his story and travels home from the Trojan War in a flashback scene, explaining how "the gods have tried me in a thousand ways."

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Book 9: New Coasts and Poseidon's Son: The Lotus Eaters

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Book 9: New Coasts and Poseidon's Son: The Lotus Eaters

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As part of his flashback story told during the banquet, Odysseus explains that he lost 72 men to the Ciconian army. Next, he recounts how he and his surviving crew went to the land of the Lotus Eaters.  Three men were sent out to explore the land, but they ate the lotus and lost their desire to return home. Odysseus dragged them back to the ship and tied them up until the drug wore off.

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Book 9: New Coasts and Poseidon's Son: The Cyclops

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Book 9: New Coasts and Poseidon's Son: The Cyclops

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Finally, Odysseus tells the story of how he and his crew arrived at the island of the Cyclopes. Odysseus took twelve of his best soldiers to explore the island and find out whether or not the Cyclopes were friendly. They ended up being stuck in a cave with a Cyclops named Polyphemus, who ate some of Odysseus' crew. In an effort to escape, Odysseus told the Cyclops that his name is "Nohbdy."  Athena sent down an olive branch that Odysseus sharpened and used to blind the Cyclops when he was drunk after Odysseus gave him strong wine. When Polyphemus cried out that "Nohbdy’s tricked me, Nohbdy’s ruined me!," none of the Cyclopes come to his aid because they thought "nobody" harmed him. In the morning, Odysseus tied his men to the underbelly of sheep so they could leave the cave without Polyphemus finding them. After they escaped, Odysseus told Polyphemus his real name, causing the Cyclops to curse him to have a long journey home and lose all his companions.

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Continuing his long flashback story at the banquet on Scheria, Odysseus explains that they next stopped at the island of Aeolus, the wind king. Aeolus gave them two gifts, good winds to Ithaca and a bag of bad winds. While Odysseus slept, his crew opened the bag of bad winds and they were blown back to Aeolus' island, who refused to give them more help because he believed they were cursed. Next, they went to an island full of cannibals called Laestrygones. The cannibals threw boulders at the ships and only Odysseus and his shipmates survived, the other two ships being lost. Finally, he arrived at the island of Aeaea, which belongs to the goddess Circe. Odysseus split his men into two groups. Eurylochus' group explored the island, while Odysseus' group stayed on the ship.

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Once the men in Eurylochus' group got to Circe's hall, there were a lot of mountain lions and wolves there. The animals strangely did not attack the men, however, but begged and wagged their tails. The men saw Circe and went to her since they had not seen a woman in long time. Eurylochus did not follow because he was suspicious of Circe's motives. She fed the men a meal and gave them drugged wine. She put them into a pigsty and they turned into hogs. While she did this, Eurylochus ran back to the ship to get help.

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Once Eurylochus returned to the ship, he told Odysseus what happened and begged him to leave. Odysseus did not listen to him, however, and rushed to try to save the men. On his way, Hermes gave him moly, a magical plant that will protect him from Circe's tricks, and told him to make her promise to do no "witches' tricks." She gave Odysseus a drugged drink, but it did not affect him. Odysseus threatened to kill Circe if she did not turn his men back into men. When she restored them, she put them into a trance. Odysseus and his crew stayed for a year on her island before he begged to leave. Before they left, she told them that they needed to go to the Land of the Dead to hear a prophecy.

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Odysseus continues his flashback story at the banquet on Scheria, explaining how he and his crew traveled to the Land of the Dead to hear a prophecy from Tiresias. In the Land of the Dead, Odysseys also found his deceased crewmate Elpenor. They did not know that Elpenor had passed away while they were on Circe's island. Next, Odysseus found his mother, whom he did not know had passed away since he had been gone for 20 years. At the end of the book, he talked to his mother and other shades, including Tiresias.

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Before Odysseus talked to various shades at the end of the book, he heard a prophecy from Tiresias. Tiresias told Odysseus not to let his men eat Helios' cattle; if they do, he will lose everyone and it will take him a long time to get home. Once he gets home, Tiresias explained, he will find a lot of men trying to court Penelope. He will have to kill them all, and finally he will have to go to an inland location and sacrifice animals to Lord Poseidon.

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Book 12: The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis

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Book 12: The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis

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Odysseus continues his story at the banquet on Scheria. He explains that after they went to the Land of the Dead, they returned to Circe's island. She gave Odysseus some advice about the places they were about to journey to on their way back to Ithaca. She told him that when they get to the Sirens, he should put beeswax into his men's ears so they cannot hear their hypnotizing song, and if Odysseus wished to hear the song, the men should tie him to the mast. Finally, she explained, when they get to the narrow straight with Scylla, a six-headed monster, and Charybdis, a whirlpool, on both sides, he should hug the side of Scylla because she will take less of his men.

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Book 12: The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis

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Book 12: The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis

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Before Odysseus and his men left Circe's island, Odysseus told his crew about the Sirens, but not Scylla and Charybdis. Once they got to the Sirens, Odysseus placed beeswax in his men's ears and his men tied him to the mast, as Circe advised. Odysseus tried to signal to his men to let him go, but they tied him up tighter. They did not lose any men to the Sirens. Before they got to the narrow strait where Scylla and Charybdis lived, Odysseus' men were frightened by white smoke and the sound of waves crashing, but he got them to keep rowing and told them to stay to the side of Scylla, following Circe's advice. After sailing in the strait for a minute, Scylla took six of the men in her mouth and ate them. Odysseus compared this moment to a fisherman catching a fish, because the fish and the men where hanging between life and death.

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Book 12: The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis

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Book 12: The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis

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After they passed Scylla and Charybdis, Odysseus tried to convince the men to bypass Thrinacia, Helios' island, because he remembered Circe's warning about the consequences for his men eating the cattle. However, the men insisted on stopping. They ignored Odysseus' order not to eat the cattle, and Helios asked Zeus to send down a lightning bolt, which killed the rest of Odysseus' men. Odysseus wraps up his long flashback story at the banquet on Scheria by explaining that, next, he drifted to Calypso's island, where he spent the next seven years before coming to Scheria.