In 18th-century Peru, an Incan rope bridge collapses, and five people plunge to their deaths. The tragedy's sole witness is a Franciscan friar, Brother Juniper, who narrowly avoided sharing the same fate. Hoping to understand how the tragedy relates to Divine Providence, Juniper determines to find out how the victims came to be on the bridge that day. The friar begins a philosophical journey that will span thousands of miles, but in Thornton Wilder's 1928 Pulitzer Prize winner, he may find more questions than answers.