When seventeen-year-old Novalee Nation is abandoned by her boyfriend at a Walmart in a small Oklahoma town, her life takes a sudden turn from road-trip escape to survival. Pregnant, broke, and utterly alone, Novalee secretly takes refuge inside the store, hiding between the aisles and counting the days until her baby is born. But amid the fluorescent lights and linoleum floors, fate begins to reshape her world in unexpected ways.
After giving birth on the Walmart floor, Novalee becomes an unlikely national sensation. The small-town community, once a backdrop to her misfortune, embraces her with compassion and quirks alikeβfrom a shy librarian with a heart of gold to a nurse with a past sheβs still running from. Each connection becomes a thread in the fragile new fabric of Novaleeβs life, helping her rise from loss into a quiet kind of hope.
But healing is never linear. As she faces betrayal, heartbreak, and the slow climb of rebuilding trust, Novalee must learn that motherhood doesnβt just begin at birthβitβs formed in every sacrifice, every choice, and every moment of strength when she wanted to run. With the help of those who chose to love her, she discovers that her roots donβt come from where she startedβbut where she stayed.
Where the Heart Is is a tender, sometimes raw journey of found family, second chances, and the quiet power of resilience. It reminds us that sometimes, the places that hold us up arenβt found on a mapβbut in the hearts of those who never let us fall.