Where the Heart Is

"Laughter is harder... Friendship is stronger... Trust is deeper... When it comes from the heart."

Apr 28 2000 PG-13 2h 0m
Comedy, Drama, Romance

Novalee Nation is a 17-year-old Tennessee transient who has to grow up in a hurry when she's left pregnant and abandoned by her boyfriend on a roadside, and takes refuge in the friendly aisles of Wal-Mart. Eventually, some eccentric but kindly strangers 'adopt' Novalee and her infant daughter, helping them buck the odds and build a new life.

Plot

Novalee Nation (Natalie Portman) is a pregnant seventeen-year-old from Tennessee heading to California with her boyfriend Willie Jack Pickens (Dylan Bruno), but is abandoned by him at a Walmart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma. Novalee has no job, no skills, and only five dollars and fifty-five cents in her pocket, so she secretly lives in the Walmart until her daughter Americus (Mackenzie Fitzgerald) is born six weeks later. Novalee decides to raise her daughter and rebuild her life in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, with the help of eccentric but kind strangers. Based on the best-selling novel by Billie Letts.

Written by

Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, Billie Letts

Directed by

Matt Williams

Cast

Natalie Portman, James Frain, Ashley Judd

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

United States of America

Production Companies

20th Century Fox, Wind Dancer Films

Languages

English

Awards

1 win & 2 nominations

Trailers
Where the heart is Trailer 2000
Scores
# of Votes
37,319
Average Rating
6.7 out of 10
Metascore
30
Popularity
NA