AMBULANCE GIRL

Who said there are no second acts in life? Here’s a true story that proves otherwise—and shows that the road to self-discovery can be a totally unpredictable one…

After more than thirty years of marriage Jane (Oscar and Golden Globe winner Kathy Bates, About Schmidt) and Michael Stern (Robin Thomas, The Contender) have reached a standstill in their private life and joint career as a successful writing team. Michael, a former alcoholic, has taken a new, self-empowered direction, leaving Jane to micro-manage no one but herself, and it scares the life out of her. So do her paralysing ailments: debilitating depression, uncontrollable panic attacks, and hypochondria. Tired of being ruled by phobias, Jane’s isolating “powerless bit” isn’t cutting it anymore. Kicking her “mid-life event” to the curb, she decides to take control of her life—by taking it an all-new direction.

Her life-altering adventure begins when she becomes a volunteer emergency medical technician. When her boot-camp drill-instructor promises speeding ambulances, bone-jarring rides in a small cabin, broken bodies, race-against-time illnesses, injuries and sickness, Jane knows it’s not going to be easy—but the challenge is irresistible. Besides, she’s completely in charge of other people’s lives. It’s a job Jane was made for. What unfolds is an inspiring story of seemingly insurmountable physical and emotional challenges, of the mysteries that separate life and death, of the special bonds of men and women working on the edge, and of a remarkable and brave woman who, in helping others, discovered a way to finally help herself.

Directed by and starring Kathy Bates and based on Jane Stern’s humane, funny, and deeply encouraging memoir, Ambulance Girl is a touching and surprising story of self-doubt and courage.