Teenage Nola (Carpenter), has spent much of her life on the open road with her self-reliant father (Ogg). The pair crisscross the United States in a refurbished RV, making ends meet by doing odd jobs. A shocking rupture, though, casts Nola out on her own. She makes her way to Albuquerque, New Mexico, in search of her mother, who she never knew. When her motorhome unexpectedly breaks down, Nola forges a bond with an auto body shop owner (Trejo).
The film received generally positive reviews. On the review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 89%, with an average rating of 7/10 based on 35 critics. The site's critical consensus reads, "A potential breakout vehicle for its writer-director as well as its star, The Short History of the Long Road finds fresh byways along its well-traveled path."[3]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on seven critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
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Variety praised Carpenter's performance, stating that she "permeated the screen with an astutely soulful quality that's tough to turn away from."[5]
