Where the Heart Is

Seventeen-year-old Novalee Nation leaves Tennessee with her boyfriend, Willy Jack, heading for California and the baby she is expecting. At a stop in a small Oklahoma town, he drives off without her, leaving her alone with almost no money. She secretly moves into the local Wal-Mart, sleeping among the shelves and taking what she needs, until her daughter is born and her situation becomes known. Rather than move on, Novalee settles in the town, where a circle of unusual but supportive people helps her raise her child and build a life of her own.

Matt Williams directed the film, working from a screenplay by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel, and also produced it with Patricia Whitcher and Susan Cartsonis. Natalie Portman plays Novalee, with Ashley Judd as Lexie Coop, Stockard Channing as Sister Husband, Joan Cusack as Ruth Meyers, Sally Field as Mama Lil and James Frain as Forney Hull. The production cost about 15 million dollars and took in roughly 41 million worldwide.

On IMDb the film holds 6.7 out of 10 from around 38,000 votes, and on TMDB it sits at 7.1 from a much smaller number of ratings. A critics' score of 5.2 from 97 reviews places it below the audience averages. The film runs 120 minutes and mixes comedy, drama and romance.