Where the Heart Is is a 2000 American romantic drama film directed by Matt Williams and starring Natalie Portman, Stockard Channing, Ashley Judd, and Joan Cusack with supporting roles by James Frain, Dylan Bruno, Keith David, and Sally Field.

Novalee Nation—a 17-year-old with a seven-month pregnancy and an aversion to the number 5—is abandoned by her boyfriend Willy Jack Pickens at a Walmart store in Sequoyah, Oklahoma when they stop to buy shoes.

While stranded, she befriends Thelma "Sister" Husband, who presents her with a buckeye tree, and local photographer Moses Whitecotton, who advises her to give her baby a strong name.

Her estranged mother Mama Lil visits after seeing her daughter on television, but disappears with the money donated by well-wishers, after which Sister Husband offers to take in both Novalee and Americus.

He writes a song, and upon release travels to Nashville, where he teams with cranky music agent Ruth Meyers, who gives him a makeover and the stage name "Billy Shadow."

Novalee arrives in Las Vegas to accept a photo contest award after submitting an image of Americus—who had previously survived an abduction attempt—and the still-standing buckeye tree amidst the damage from the storm.

After driving Willy Jack home to Tennessee, she visits Forney at Bowdoin College where she confesses her love for him, and they return to Sequoyah where they marry in a ceremony held in the Walmart, surrounded by their close friends.

[1] Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 35% approval rating, based on reviews from 97 critics, with the site's consensus stating that the film's "poor script and messy plot undermines the decent cast.