SSL protects data in transit.
By making sure that any data transferred between users and sites, or between two systems remain impossible to read. It uses encryption algorithms for the same.
Also handshake kind of mechanism happens when browser first initiates https request to server.
Browser receives the public key and validates cert from and responsible for decryption.
More answers here -
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10959961/how-does-ssl-encrypt-data-from-server-to-client