Return is a complex and polysemic social phenomenon of great importance to the study of mobility and migration in recent years. This paper explores, in the first place, the complex conceptualisation of the term, going beyond the classic understanding of return as the ending of a migration process. Second, this paper identifies the existence of a particular rhetoric of return in Nepal, which arises from the mobility-development nexus, that builds strong expectations about the returnee’s contributions to the development of their hometowns. But the return is much more than a concept, so we also explore it as an experience, building upon the narrative of a young Sherpa girl who is negotiating her role and identity through her own experiences of return. This paper shows the relevance of a gender perspective in understanding the mobility- development nexus in Nepal and, even more, the contradictions of the rhetoric of return.