shitty plot synopsis

Jonathan Nightingale is an apathetic Ambulance driver that lives in Glasgow. When he is on call he takes naps in the morgue of the Royal Infirmary, as it is the only quiet part of the hospital. During one such moment, his pager goes off and he is called out. It is shown that he never turns his siren on because of the loud noise it makes. He arrives at the house very late because he gets stuck in traffic, and discovers an old woman on the floor with a broken arm, having fallen down the stairs. She berates him for being so late, but Jonathan remains unconcerned, and tells her that 80% of ambulance call outs are for non life endangering incidents, like hers. He loads the complaining women into the ambulance and drives off

When taking her details at the hospital he notes that she shares the same unusual surname as a girl he went to school with and had a crush on- Sarah Lamorte, and so waits around with the hope that she will show up to pick up her grandmother. Eventually she does and he greets her warmly. She thanks him for “saving” her grandmother and after some awkwardness he secures a date with Sarah.

During their date Jonathan reveals his past crush to Sarah and tells her that at school she was the only one that didn’t bully him. It is revealed that all the other children made fun of Jonathan and thought he was strange and “creepy” because his father was an undertaker. During his youth Jonathan would frequently see dead bodies and become comfortable in the sight of death. He tells Sarah that this was how he got his job as an ambulance driver, as he is not fazed by bodies. Sarah tells Jonathan that he is doing good work and is saving lives. Jonathan presses her for information about herself and she reluctantly tells him that she works in an abortion clinic. She tells him that it is the only well paid job she could get in short notice when her boyfriend left her and with their baby. Jonathan laughs at the irony of working in the abortion clinic so she can provide for her son, and Sarah awkwardly joins in.

Jonathan thinks the date is going well but at the end Sarah tells him that she only agreed to go because she felt grateful for him taking her mother to hospital. She asks him not to be upset, and Jonathan lies tells her he is not. She leaves him and when she is gone Jonathan breaks down into a deep depression.

Later, back at the hospital Jonathan is lying in the morgue again staring despondently into space. His pager goes off again and he reluctantly gets up to drive out to the source of trouble in a run down part of Glasgow. Here he finds a beggar, slowly dying in the street from a heart attack. The person who made the call, a well dressed business man is standing over him, and immediately leaves when Jonathan arrives; coldly explaining that he has a meeting in the morning. When Jonathan tries to question the man why he didn’t cover the beggar with his jacket, the man angrily tells him that both he and his jacket are more “important” than the beggar, and walks off.

Rather than help the beggar, Jonathan questions him, asking what his heart feels like right now and comparing it to the pain Jonathan feels in his own. The beggar dies before he can answer and Jonathan muses how much more peaceful he looks. He remembers how his father once told him that “despite the life they might live, all men find dignity in death” Jonathan gently folds the dead beggars’ arms and closes his eyes, then leaves.

Initially worried about getting in trouble, Jonathan soon realises that no one cares what happens to “unimportant” people, after he finds no significant news coverage of the beggars’ death in the news. During several other call outs to beggars Jonathan explains to them his newfound philosophy about death, and offers them a lethal amount of drugs in order to make their passing easier rather than continue their “wretched existence” As the beggars are frequently drunk or mentally disabled, many of them accept Jonathans offer, and die with smiles on their faces as Jonathan comforts them and tells them not to be afraid. Jonathan also begins to spend all his nights in the morgue, sleeping with a slight smile on his face as well, with all the others he has “cured of life”

Some time after this, and still not having been caught, Jonathan gets a call to a house in the eastside of Glasgow, where he notes that life expectancy is the shortest. The address sounds familiar to him, and then he realises it’s where Sarah said she lived. Because he still has feelings for her, Jonathan drives recklessly there, even turning his siren on. Once he arrives he is greeted by a tearful but unharmed Sarah, who rushes him upstairs to her baby, who has possibly suffered cot death. In an emotional scene, Jonathan does all he can to save the baby, but is too late and can do nothing.

Sarah breaks down and wails with despair. She tells Jonathan that she hurts so much and that her grief feels like she is breaking in two from the inside out. She cradles the dead baby in her arm and refuses to let it go. Jonathan tries to comfort her, and slowly takes her downstairs to the ambulance. He tells her he can make her pain end if she wants him to, and she agrees. Jonathan administers a fatal dose of morphine and Sarah slowly falls asleep on the ambulance bed, baby still cradled in her arm. She dies quietly and Jonathan lies on the bed next to her, imagining a life where they were together and happy.