Joining a team of researchers, construction workers and support staff, Dr. Nielsen is solely responsible for the mental and physical health of all fellow inhabitants stranded at the station through the winter.

In order for her to survive several months until conditions will allow planes to land and rescue her from the continent, the doctors concur that she will need to begin chemotherapy treatments immediately.

Risking death, rescuers heroically air-drop the necessary supplies to the station and, along with the help of fellow "Polies", including close friends Big John Penny (Aidan Devine) and Claire "Fingers" Furinski (Cynthia Mace), Nielsen begins her debilitating chemotherapy treatments.

Eventually, the Air National Guard makes a daring rescue, drops off a replacement physician and returns Nielsen to the United States, where she is able to seek full medical attention to treat her cancer.

Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, Ice Bound: A Woman's Survival at the South Pole was filmed on location near Ontario's frozen Lake Simcoe.