The Bridges of Madison County follows Francesca Johnson, a lonely Italian war bride living on an Iowa farm, who experiences a passionate, four-day love affair with Robert Kincaid, a traveling National Geographic photographer who stops to ask for directions to a local covered bridge. While her husband and children are away at the state fair, Francesca and Robert form a deep, life-changing connection that forces her to choose between her duty to her stable family and the soulmate she has always desired. Ultimately, Francesca chooses to stay with her family to protect them from scandal, but she and Robert cherish their brief love for the rest of their lives, a secret later discovered by her adult children through her journals after her death.