Sky-high housing costs, rents no one can pay, urban development, and street crime make life difficult for RV dwellers in Berkeley, California. City bureaucrats collaborate with real estate agents to gentrify neighborhoods forcing out already marginalized people living in cars, trucks, and RVs. With no more West to escape to, they contemplate turning back East. Sandy 1, the clan's Mother Teresa, beset with seizures, her nephew Rail, a young poet and tap dancer, traveling with his girlfriend Mitra on a motorcycle, look for clues to Arid Cut, a place in the desert where Rail might find Bert Neville, the father he never met. Ziggy and Travis, builders and jacks of all trades, think they might have a clue as the building site they're working is shut down by the city. Taylor is a rapper looking for gigs along the way with his eccentric agent, Wes and his stoner friend, Geoff. Lucille drives Uber and lives with her mother in a van. Herbie sells meth for Pinto, dealer and RV dweller, in order to keep his younger brother in school. Sandy 1 suddenly dies of a seizure and friends gather to mourn. In Sandy's honor, and to help Rail, they agree to head East on a search for Arid Cut.

Arid Cut

Center Divide is the second film in Rob Nilsson's multi-character Nomad Trilogy. In the first film, Arid Cut (2019), our refugees of the American Dream leave the city. In Center Divide, with no more West to escape to, they're now on the road heading East.

Center Divide

A ten-year drought brings local ranches to the brink of disaster. The search for Bert Neville takes its toll on Rail and Mitra. They break up and Rail continues on alone. Travis, Ziggy and Karin hitchhike in high country and get lost in a burnt out forest. Taylor travels with Ukrainian gallery owners looking for the prototypical western artist. Dane introduces Rail to his mother, Violet, a full blood hewise, who remembers the horrors of the Indian schools. Her ex-husband Bedford refuses to give his real name to a white man. Her daughter April broadcasts a tribal blog on indian affairs. Dane and Rail are stopped by local militia types.  Entrepreneurs propose a geothermal plant to ranchers and locals divided by political views.  Rail finds an old map in an abandoned ranch and Mitra, now recovered, rejoins him. Is the mystery of Bert Neville about to be solved?