<P> Novalee Nation ( Natalie Portman ) is seventeen years old and seven months pregnant . She sets off on a road trip from Tennessee to California with her boyfriend , Willy Jack Pickens ( Dylan Bruno ) in an old , broken down 1963 Plymouth . When driving through Sequoyah , Oklahoma , Novalee notices , after her nap , that her shoes have gone through the car 's floor boards . She asks Willy Jack to stop at the local Walmart so that she can go to the restroom and buy new shoes . The cashier is to give Novalee her change when she realizes the amount -- $5.55 . She believes the number five to be a bad omen . Barefoot , she runs outside to find Willy Jack gone and he having left behind her and her new Polaroid camera . Having no other place to go she walks back inside and meets Thelma `` Sister '' Husband ( Stockard Channing ) , who runs the Welcome Wagon in town . After Sister presents her with a buckeye tree , Novalee also meets Moses Whitecotton ( Keith David ) , a local photographer who advises her to give her baby a strong name . A sickly Novalee soon runs into the restroom to vomit , only to discover the store has closed for the day . She lives in the Walmart , undetected , while spending her days walking around town or visiting the library before returning to the store during the night . Meanwhile Willy Jack is charged with fraternizing with a minor , and stealing from a convenience store . During his tenure in prison he composes a country song , `` Beat of the Heart . '' </P>
<P> Novalee Nation ( Natalie Portman ) is seventeen years old and seven months pregnant . She sets off on a road trip from Tennessee to California with her boyfriend , Willy Jack Pickens ( Dylan Bruno ) in an old , broken down 1963 Plymouth . When driving through Sequoyah , Oklahoma , Novalee notices , after her nap , that her shoes have gone through the car 's floor boards . She asks Willy Jack to stop at the local Walmart so that she can go to the restroom and buy new shoes . The cashier is to give Novalee her change when she realizes the amount -- $5.55 . She believes the number five to be a bad omen . Barefoot , she runs outside to find Willy Jack gone and he having left behind her and her new Polaroid camera . Having no other place to go she walks back inside and meets Thelma `` Sister '' Husband ( Stockard Channing ) , who runs the Welcome Wagon in town . After Sister presents her with a buckeye tree , Novalee also meets Moses Whitecotton ( Keith David ) , a local photographer who advises her to give her baby a strong name . A sickly Novalee soon runs into the restroom to vomit , only to discover the store has closed for the day . She lives in the Walmart , undetected , while spending her days walking around town or visiting the library before returning to the store during the night . Meanwhile Willy Jack is charged with fraternizing with a minor , and stealing from a convenience store . During his tenure in prison he composes a country song , `` Beat of the Heart . '' </P>
who plays novalee in where the heart is
who plays novalee in where the heart is
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman