When Nola’s father first dies, she is thrown into survival mode, bouncing from town to town just trying to make ends meet. The Short History of the Long Road is about learning to find closure in the things that have run their course, but also trusting others enough not to pull a vanishing act at the first sign of minor complications. How can you exist in the world when you’ve only ever experienced the beginnings of friendships, small fragments of movies, frustrating moments of a regular life, before you’re forced to move on to the next town? One side of her longs to put down roots and become a member of a community, but she’s handicapped by the simple fact that sticking around is not a skill that Nola has ever been encouraged to cultivate. When Nola’s father dies an untimely death from a stroke, the film becomes no longer about Nola and her father against the world, but rather Nola trying to learn how to become a part of the world. They live a strange life, but they have each other. They travel from town to town, taking on odd jobs while Nola is homeschooled from whatever books she’s been able to sneak out of public libraries.
In The Short History of the Long Road, Nola and her father are modern nomads, living in a van that has an equal chance of stalling or starting at any given moment.
