Where the Heart is starts with Novalee and Willy Jack, her boyfriend at the time , traveling to California. At the time, Novalee is "seventeen, seven months pregnant, thirty-seven pounds overweight, and superstitious about sevens."
Novalee convinces Willy Jack to stop at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, Oklahoma, so she can use the restroom and buy a pair of sandals because hers fell through the hole in the bottom of their car. When Novalee gets her change $7.77 she realizes that Willy Jack has left her.
With nowhere else to go, Novalee spends the afternoon at the Wal-Mart and meets Sister Husband who hands out chapters of the Bible to people she meets. When they first meet, Sister Husband mistakes Novalee for a girl named Ruth Ann Mott and gives Novalee a nice basket. She also meets Moses Whitecotton, a photographer who shoots portraits at the Wal-Mart. He later becomes Novalee's mentor as she becomes more invested in photography. She also meets a young man who gives her a buckeye tree as good luck. As Novalee lives in Walmart, she watches as the buckeye tree becomes sick. She takes a walk to the library where she meets Forney Hull who helps her find books about the buckeye. He appears "crazy" and shouts facts he has read from books at Novalee. Novalee Nation is forced to have her baby in the Wal-Mart, but Forney, the local librarian's brother, breaks a window and helps her out. She gives birth to the Wal-Mart baby. Without ruining too much for you by telling too much. I highly recommend this book. It's a good read and it's a cute book.
