Mikma and her family collect medicinal herbs around their home nestled in the Himalayas of northeastern Nepal, before making an annual 300-kilometer migration, partly on foot and partly by ramshackle bus, to urban markets in the lowlands.

The extension of the first road to (and through) their off-the-beaten-path village is fitfully underway, promising less walking and perhaps a less arduous life in some distant future. Road engineers take bribes to avoid destroying homes, while laborers produce gravel — breaking individual stones by hand with hammers.

The herb collectors plot to avoid shakedowns by police and bus operators as they miraculously make their way to market. This observant film is a deep dive into a way of life that is in the midst of a slow and chaotic, yet inexorable transition.