Wisdom Gone Wild is an auto-ethnography, a unique portrait chronicling sixteen years of caregiving for an elder in dementia. At 93, Rose Noda Tajiri is a time traveler, a concentration camp survivor, a spiritual seeker, and a woman who dreamt of hitchhiking across Europe. Rea, her filmmaker daughter, has been geographically distant for decades. When Rose develops dementia, Rea is frightened. Rose converses with ancestors, spontaneously time traveling to different eras of her life. Forced to confront her mother’s mortality after she survives a heart attack, Rea resolves to suspend judgment on Rose’s condition in order to connect. Rea recognizes that her mother communicates through a “wisdom gone wild”—performative acts that shock, elicit laughter, or comment on the present moment. As Rose slowly declines, the two journey together towards end of life.