It was adapted as a 2005 family film directed by Wayne Wang, produced by Walden Media and Twentieth Century Fox, and starring AnnaSophia Robb as Opal Buloni.

[1] A 10-year-old girl named India Opal Buloni has just moved to a trailer park in the small town of Naomi, Florida, with her father, who is known as The Preacher because he preaches at the local church.

Miss Franny Block, a librarian, shares great stories about her past, including one about her great-grandfather, whose family members died while he was fighting for the South in the Civil War.

Opal learns that her sour-faced neighbor, Amanda Wilkinson, lost her younger brother Carson when he drowned in the town lake the previous summer.

Opal finds a dog collar that she wants to buy for Winn-Dixie, but she has no money and decides to work for the pet store to earn it.

She also invites Amanda Wilkinson and Sweetie Pie Thomas, a younger girl who has no pet, and so has fallen in love with Winn-Dixie.

[4] In 2007 the U.S. National Education Association listed Winn-Dixie as one of its "Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children", based on an online poll.