Spider McCall is an ambulance driver with attitude. His final day on the job lands him the assignment from hell – driving a 70-year-old to her birthday party in distant Coona­barabran. Spider has others plans – involving several cases of vodka – for his own party that night. Rose Dougherty is well-preserved and as spirited and wilful as her driver. Both are asserting themselves and getting on each other’s nerves before they pull out of hospital. Sparring escalates as they hit the road.

Rose grabs at freedom, hitching a ride with Jack, a sixty-something bee-keeper charmed by Rose’s sardonic humour. But an ambulance driver has a job to do, and Spider catches up with Jack’s van, separating the happy pair.