Plot: The path of Francesca Johnson's future seems destined when an unexpected fork in the road causes her to question everything she had come to expect from life. While her husband and children are away at the Iowa state fair in the Summer of 1965, Robert Kincaid happens upon the Johnson farm and asks Francesca for directions to Rosamunde Bridge. He explains that he is on assignment from National Geographic magazine to photograph the bridges of Madison County. She agrees to show him to the bridges and thus begins the bittersweet and all-too-brief romance of her life. Through the pain of separation from her secret love and the stark isolation she feels as the details of her life consume her, she writes down the story of this four-day love affair in a 3-volume diary. The diary is found by her children among her possessions and alongside Robert Kincaid's possessions after Francesca is dead. The message they take from the diaries is one of hope that they will do what is necessary to find happiness in their lives — whatever is necessary. After learning that Robert Kincaid's cremated remains were scattered off Rosamunde Bridge and that their mother requested a similar disposition for her own ashes, the children must decide whether to honor their mother's final wishes or bury her alongside their father as the family had planned. Adapted from the novel by Robert Waller, this is the story of love that happens just once in a lifetime — if you're lucky.

Tags: 1960s, 1960s, adultery, adultery, bar, bar, bar scene, bar scene, based on novel, based on novel, bathtub, bathtub, bathtub scene, bathtub scene, bridge, bridge, brother sister relationship, brother sister relationship, cornfield, cornfield, covered bridge, covered bridge, deliberate cruelty, diary, diary, diner, diner, diner scene, diner scene, directed by star, directed by star, encounter, extramarital affair, fair, fair, flower, flower, goodbye, goodbye, housewife, housewife, husband wife relationship, impossible love, impossible love, iowa, iowa, jazz club, jazz club, kitchen scene, kitchen scene, life lesson, loneliness, love, love letter, love letter, male female relationship, national geographic magazine, national geographic magazine, news photographer, news photographer, older man younger woman, photographer, rural, rural life, rural life, state fair, state fair, tirade, tirade, told in flashback, told in flashback, show all tags.