Stephen Cubine

Walking on Electric Air Stephen Cubine

When her fourth suicide attempt results in a disabled minivan rather than the peaceful farewell she'd planned in her carbon monoxide-filled garage, Dottie Westbrook, a depressed St. Louis housewife, takes the next step in getting her plan back on track; she calls Triple-A. But her plans take a drastic turn when Shelby Struthers, a boozy, auto-mechanic with dark demons, appears on her doorstep. Shelby tows Dottie and the minivan back to his garage. While waiting, Dottie and Shelby swap tragic stories in a drunken exchange. Dottie reveals that she is about to be institutionalized by a family unable to deal with her depression; and Shelby laments of Remy, the young daughter he lost years ago in a bitter custody battle. Dottie, who never knew her own father, is appalled that Shelby let his daughter go without a fight, so she finds a cause in Shelby. She proceeds to steal a Mercedes from Shelby's garage and makes a dramatic escape, beckoning Shelby to come along so she can help him find his daughter. On the brink of personal and financial disaster, with nothing left to lose, Shelby jumps in and away they go. Along the way, they encounter sassy Lynda Critchlow, a small-town rental clerk who unknowingly rents them a vehicle loaded down with undelivered drugs. Anxious for a one-way ticket out of Hicksville and away from her abusive boyfriend, she hitches a ride with them to Nashville to begin what she feels is her inevitable singing career. The three traveling companions become an unlikely family while searching for Shelby's daughter. Along the bucolic highways of the South, Dottie and Shelby help each other find value in the wreckage of their lives while fighting their mutual attraction that grows stronger with each passing mile. Unknowingly, they are pursued by several potentially dangerous adversaries: two bumbling drug lords who want to retrieve the drugs in their rental car; Lynda's violent boyfriend; and Dottie's bickering husband and mother.