Nomadland Trivia Quiz

Answer: Amazon

In intertitles at the start of the film, we learn that the mine and company town of Empire, Nevada was essentially abandoned in 2011 following the closure by US Gypsum Corporation of its plant there after 88 years of operation. Still grieving for the loss of her husband, Fern is forced to leave her home and live out of her Ford van, which she has outfitted for life on the road. She gets a job through the Amazon CamperForce program, which matches seasonal workers with jobs at the tech giant's many warehouses.

We see Fern working at one such Amazon fulfillment center in Nevada, picking and packaging items and attending safety briefings together with other gig workers. With Christmas around the corner, the increased demand for workers over the holiday shopping season is a lucrative opportunity for people like Fern. Her friend and fellow worker at Amazon, Linda May, is in a similar situation following the 2008 financial crisis. Like Fern, Linda May lives in her trailer, and travels around in search of work. She explains the logic behind this nomadic existence one evening to Fern. "I was getting close to 62 and I went online to look at my social security benefit. It said $550," Linda May says. "Fern, I had worked my whole life. I'd worked since I was 12 years old. Raised two daughters. I couldn't believe it. So I'm online and I find Bob Wells' Cheap RV Living. I could live in an RV, travel and not have to work for the rest of my life."

Answer: Houseless

Fern is browsing in a sporting goods store when she is recognized by some old friends. "Fern!" a voice calls out. She turns around to see Brandy and her two daughters. Fern and Brandy hug and exchange pleasantries. "Are you still doing the van thing?" Brandy asks. "Yeah. I'm parked over at the Desert Rose RV Park," Fern replies. "Oh, we just drove by there today. Didn't we, girls?" Brandy remarks. "How's your mom?" Fern asks, changing the subject. "She's wonderful. She misses you a lot," Brandy replies, before leaning in closer to say something in hushed tones. "If you need a place to stay, you can come over and stay with us. We're worried about you," Brandy tells her. "Thanks. Don't worry about me," Fern replies. Brandy walks away with her older daughter, while her younger daughter, Makenzie, hangs back. "You still the smartest kid in school?" Fern asks her. "Yeah, kinda," Makenzie replies. "You remember anything that we worked on when I tutored you?" Fern asks. Makenzie thinks for a moment, then recites a passage from "Macbeth". Fern is proud and pleased.

"My mom says that you're homeless. Is that true?" Makenzie asks. "No, I'm not homeless," Fern replies. "I'm just houseless. Not the same thing, right?" Makenzie sees the distinction and accepts Fern's answer. "Don't worry about me. I'm okay," Fern tells her.

Answer: A boot camp for beginner nomads

Fern was hoping to find more work in Nevada as she is familiar with the area, but it proves difficult. She's in her sixties and the last full-time job she had was in the USG mine in Empire. Since then, she had a string of part-time jobs as a cashier and substitute teacher until the mine closure forced her to leave. A job center recruiter tells her that the job market is tough right now, and advises her to register for early retirement. "I don't think I can get by on the benefits," Fern tells her. "I need work. I like work." The recruiter is sympathetic but can't do much for her. "I'm not sure exactly what you would be eligible for," she says. Linda May had told Fern about the Rubber Tramp Rendezvous or RTR that meets once a year in Quartzsite, Arizona, which Bob Wells describes as "a boot camp for beginner nomads". Linda May will be there, and she hopes that Fern will join her. Fern suffers through some bitterly cold nights in Nevada before deciding to head south where it's warmer.

She reunites with Linda May at the RTR, a congregation of trailers, campers, and vans of like-minded individuals in the desert. They attends talks on "The Ten Commandments of Stealth Parking", tire maintenance and nomad hygiene, and stop by a neighboring RV show in the hope of finding jobs. At night, they trade stories around a campfire about how they each came to be a "vandweller". Fern meets with Bob Wells, who conceived of the RTR as a support system for the other "workhorses" like him who have been left behind. "I can't imagine what you're going through," Bob Wells tells her. "The loss of your husband and the loss of your whole town and friends and village. That kind of loss is never easy and I wish I had an easy answer for you, but I think you've come to the right place to find an answer. I think that connecting to nature and to a real true community and tribe will make all the difference for you."

Answer: A set of autumn leaf dishes

Fern first meets Dave at the RTR, when she picks up a can opener from the "free pile" of items that people no longer need. "Here, you should take this one. That one's kinda funky," Dave whispers to her, when he sees her eyeing a problematic can opener. Fern trades him one of her homemade pot holders for the good can opener. Later, Fern joins Linda May as a camp host at the Ceder Pass Campground in South Dakota, and runs into Dave again, who is working as a tour guide at the Badlands National Park. On their off day, Fern and Linda May head over to the National Grasslands Visitor Center and take one of the tours conducted by Dave.

One day, Dave pays a visit to Fern and finds her clearing out all the contents of her van and placing them on the campground. "What's going on?" he asks. "Ants. I got ants," she replies. "They are in my food, Dave!" He tries to help her with the items she's carrying but she tells him that she can do it. He picks up another box from inside the van. "Where do you want this?" he asks, as the bottom of the box flips open and its contents fall to the ground and shatter. "Fern, I'm sorry," he says. "Go over there!" she yells, when she realizes what was in the box. Fern had previously shown Linda May the set of dishes that her father had given to her when she graduated from high school. "Isn't that great? Yeah, it's called 'Autumn Leaf'. I don't have that many pieces with me, but you know," she said proudly. The dishes were among the few possessions that she didn't leave in her storage facility in Empire, and they have real sentimental value to Fern. After she blows up at Dave, we see Fern gather up the broken pieces and painstakingly glue them back together. She manages to save one of the plates.

Answer: Swallow nests

Fern first met Swankie, a fellow nomad, in the RTR in Arizona. Swankie was the only other camper left after the RTR disbanded for the year, and she helped Fern with a flat tire. Fern repays the favor by helping Swankie with her preparations for a trip she is taking. As they get to know each other better, Fern learns that Swankie has cancer and only has months to live. "I'm gonna take my trip. I'm gonna go back to Alaska again because of some good memories," Swankie explains. "I'm not going to spend any more time indoors in a hospital. No thanks." She goes on to say that she will be 75 this year, and she's lived a good life. "I've seen some really neat things kayaking all those places," she says. "A moose family on a river in Idaho, and big white pelicans landing just six feet over my kayak on a lake in Colorado. Or coming round a bend of a cliff and finding hundreds and hundreds of swallow nests on the wall of the cliff. And the swallows flying all around and reflecting in the water so it looks like I'm flying with the swallows, and they're under me and over me and all around me. And the little babies are hatching out and egg shells are falling out of the nest and landing on the water and floating on the water, these little white shells. It's like, well, it's just so awesome. I felt like I'd done enough. My life was complete. If I died right then, that moment, it'd be perfectly fine."

Swankie gives away most of her belongings and leaves for her trip. Later, Fern receives a video message from Swankie. From her kayak, Swankie films a cliff face that is littered with swallow nests. Hundreds of birds fly and chirp all around her, and we see Swankie pick up an eggshell from the water, just as she described to Fern. "You made it, Swankie," Fern says with a smile. At the end of the movie, the nomads gather again at the RTR in 2013 and remember Swankie by taking turns throwing rocks into the campfire.

Answer: His son

Dave contracts diverticulitis, and we see Fern tending to him in his van and visiting him in hospital after he doesn't get better and needs surgery. Dave mentions that he is starting work at Wall Drug after his stint at the Badlands, and offers to see if they have any openings for her. They both end up working in Wall Drug's huge dining hall. We see them visiting the Reptile Gardens on their time off, where Fern gets closer than she would like to a large yellow python, and marvels at the feeding of their 1,350 pound crocodile. Fern and Dave make dinner together, and they seem to have settled into a comfortable sort of rhythm.

One evening, Fern is cleaning up the Wall Drug dining hall when a man walks in. "I'm looking for Dave," the man says. "I'm his son, James." Fern directs James to where Dave is working in the kitchen. After James leaves, Dave shows Ferns some pictures on his phone. "You're gonna be a grandpa! When's she due?" she asks excitedly. "In two weeks, he said. He's on his way home now. Asked me to come with him," Dave replies. "You should go," Fern says. Dave cleans the grill silently, as Fern busies herself with a container of lettuce. "He didn't like it very much that I wasn't around much when he was young," Dave says finally. "I tried to be around when he was older, but he was into his thing and I was into mine and I guess I just forgot how to be a dad. Anyway, I wasn't very good at it." Fern tells him that he is overthinking things. "Just go. Be a grandfather," she says. "You wanna come with me?" he asks. "Maybe I can visit sometime," Fern replies, as if she didn't understand his meaning. "Great," Dave says casually. He knows Fern well enough not to push.

Answer: Her sister

The mechanic informs Fern that the repairs will cost $2,300 plus tax, and points out that she would be better off putting the money towards a new vehicle. A clearly distressed Fern tries to explain that she has spent a lot of time and money customizing the interior of the van, and eventually just comes clean with him. "I live in there. It's my home," she says. Fern calls up her sister, Dolly, to borrow the money for the repairs, but she will only give her the loan in person. Fern has no choice but to leave her van and catch a bus to visit her sister, who lives in a quiet suburban neighborhood just outside Denver. Fern and Dolly greet each other warmly, but there's also a bit of tension there. Fern sits through an awkward barbecue where Dolly has to defend Fern's nomadic lifestyle to George, Dolly's husband.

Later that evening, Dolly visits Fern in her room and passes her the money. "Thanks. You know I'll pay you back, right?" Fern says. "Why don't you move in with us?" Dolly asks, getting right to the point. "I can't live here. I can't live in this room. I can't sleep in this bed. Thank you, but I can't," Fern replies. Dolly makes a snide comment about how they aren't as interesting as the people Fern meets on the road. "It's always what's out there that's more interesting. You left home as soon as you could. You married Beau after just knowing him a few months. And then you moved to the middle of nowhere with him. And then even after Beau passed away, you still stayed in Empire. I just didn't get it. I mean, you could have left," Dolly says. "See, that's why I can't come here," Fern replies. Dolly decides to try a different approach. "You know, when you were growing up, you were eccentric to other people. You maybe seemed weird, but it was just because you were braver and more honest than everybody else," she says. "You're my sister. I would have loved having you around all these years. You left a big hole by leaving." Fern is genuinely moved by this. "That one's on me," she says quietly. Fern leaves the next morning to collect her van.

Answer: A lighter

After the 2012 instalment of the RTR ended, Fern hung around and got a job in Quartzsite at a place selling rocks and semi-precious stones. It is there that she meets Derek, a young traveler, when she is taking a smoke break. "Hello, ma'am," Derek says, walking over. "Would you by chance have an extra cigarette?" Fern hands him a cigarette and lights it for him. "Need it?" she asks, offering up the lighter. "Well, sure. Thank you," Derek replies politely. They exchange names and shake hands, before Derek goes on his way.

After Fern gets her van repaired, she is parked along a highway near the Nevada and Arizona borders, when she spies a young man sitting alone across the road from her. Concerned for his well-being, she packs up a sandwich she made and walks over to him. "Hi, want a sandwich? You hungry?" she asks. It is Derek. "I think I've met you before," he replies. "Would you like a beer?" he asks. She trades him the sandwich for a beer, and takes a seat by the fire. "You gave me a light back in Quartzsite," he recalls. Fern remembers, and asks if he still has it. "No, that's long gone," he replies with a laugh. "But I do have this for you. Want you to have it." Derek takes out a silver lighter with a small brown stone inlaid on the cover and hands it to Fern. "Thanks. It's really beautiful," she says. "What's that stone?" Derek informs her that it's dinosaur bone. They make small talk, and he reveals that he writes letters to his girlfriend but doesn't always know what to write about. Fern asks if he ever considered poetry, but Derek says he doesn't know any poems. Fern ends up reciting Shakespeare's "Sonnet No. 18" for him.

Answer: "There was nothing in our way."

Fern keeps her promise and goes to visit Dave at his son's house. Everyone makes Fern feel at home, and she has a nice Thanksgiving dinner with Dave's family and friends. At one point, Dave tells Fern that she is welcome to stay with them as long as she likes. "I like you. You're a good person. You get along with people, for the most part. You know, I like being around you," Dave explains. Fern doesn't know what to say. One night, Fern is having a cigarette on the porch when she is joined by Emily, Dave's daughter-in-law. They start talking about Fern's life in Empire, and Emily asks what her house was like there. "Nothing special. Just a company tract house," she says. "Actually, it was special. We were right on the edge of the town, and our backyard looks out at this huge open space. It was just desert, desert, desert, all the way to the mountains. There was nothing in our way."

Fern's description also captures the appeal of the open road, and provides a clue as to why she cannot go back to a 'normal' life. She may have been forced into this nomadic existence through her circumstances initially, but by this point it has become a choice. She eventually leaves Dave's place after a short visit, hitting the road again. The life Fern has chosen is not without its challenges, but there are also moments of beauty and grace. We see Fern camping out in the Black Hills and the Great Plains, and swimming naked in the Cascade Falls. She visits the majestic redwoods in northern California, and walks a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the rain. These are all experiences that she probably wouldn't have had if she stayed in one place all her life, and she isn't prepared to give up the freedoms that come with this life. There's nothing in her way.

Answer: "I'll see you down the road."

Fern opens up to Bob Wells about her husband, Beau, and why she chose to stay on in Empire after he died. "Beau never knew his parents and we never had kids. If I didn't stay, if I left, it would be like he never existed. I couldn't pack up and move on," she explains. "So I stayed. Same town, same house. It's like my dad used to say, 'What's remembered, lives.' I maybe spent too much of my life just remembering, Bob. You know what I mean?" Bob says that he can relate, and tells Fern about how he lost his son to suicide five years earlier. "Out here there's a lot of people our age and inevitably there's grief and loss. And a lot of them don't get over it either, and that's okay," he says. "One of the things I love most about this life is that there's no final goodbye. You know, I've met hundreds of people out here and we don't ever say a final goodbye. I always just say, 'I'll see you down the road.' And I do. And whether it's a month or a year or sometimes years, I see them again. I can look down the road and I can be certain in my heart that I'll see my son again. You'll see Beau again and you can remember your lives together then."

At the end of the film, Fern returns to Empire, Nevada. She explores the abandoned sheetrock factory and walks the empty streets, ending up at her old house. She goes from room to room and ends up at her backdoor, looking out into the stunning vista that she described to Emily. Fern seems apprehensive, then with a determined smile, she steps out into her backyard and through the opening in the fence into the wilderness beyond. The film ends with a dedication "to the ones who had to depart".