Novalee visits the library and meets Forney Hull ( James Frain ), who works at the library while caring for his sister ( the librarian ), whose health has been ruined by alcoholism.

Novalee learns from Sister Husband and her boyfriend that Forney dropped out of Bowdoin College in Maine and wanted to be a history teacher before he had to leave school.

Later, Novalee and Forney are getting Christmas trees, when Forney remembers Americus is 5 months old.

Novalee asks Forney why bad things happened to her.

When Forney ’ s sister passes away due to alcoholism and he does not appear to be at the funeral, Novalee finds him in a hotel and comforts him.

When Forney comes back, he talks about visiting Bowdoin and Novalee realizes that he could now finish his education.

Forney says he loves her and wants to get a factory job and stay with her, but Novalee lies, saying she does not love him, and he leaves.

Novalee realizes that she made a similar mistake lying to Forney.

* Forney does return to college until Novalee comes back to confess her lie in the movie but in the book Forney does not return to college ; instead he travels around the nation.

* Forney and Novalee did get married in a Wal-Mart but in the book they do not get married at all.

That night in the Wal-Mart, Novalee wakes up during a thunderstorm when she starts feeling pain in her stomach.

The next morning, Novalee wakes up in the hospital and became an instant celebrity after giving birth in a Wal-Mart.

Novalee agrees that her mother can come pick her and Americus up at 9: 00 a. m. the next day.

The next day, it is 12: 15 in the lobby, but her mother never shows up, and Novalee realizes that her mother only wanted the money.

Shortly after, Sister Husband comes to pick up Novalee and offers to let Novalee and the baby live at her house ( as well as because Sister Husband does not know how to take care of the buckeye tree Novalee planted ).

Lexie tells Novalee that her new boyfriend had gone to her house and tried to molest her two oldest children, Brownie and Praline, before Praline had thrown up on him and Lexie returned home from work early and caught him before he got to Brownie.

Later, Novalee picks up a newspaper and reads a story about a double amputee being robbed of his wheelchair.

Novalee says no, and her mother says that the two women can get an apartment together.

Novalee gets to know Lexie, who reveals that she has had four children by three different men ( and that Lexie named her children after snack names ; Brownie, Praline, Cherry, and Baby Ruth ).

During his singing career, he failed to see Novalee because he entered an elevator with his agent ( prior to their break-up ) just moments after Novalee left the other elevator, in order to receive an award for a prized photograph.

In Sequoyah, Oklahoma, Novalee asks her boyfriend to stop at Wal-Mart so that she can go to the bathroom and replace her shoes, which had fallen out a hole in the floor of their beat-up car.

The film follows Novalee Nation, a pregnant 17-year-old girl from Tennessee, who sets out for California with her boyfriend.

Seventeen and 7 months pregnant, Novalee Nation ( Natalie Portman ) sets off on a road trip from Tennessee to California with her ignorant ne ' er-do-well boyfriend, Willy Jack Pickens ( Dylan Bruno ).

When Novalee reaches out for her change at the register, the amount of $ 5. 55 sends her into a panic and she runs outside to find that her boyfriend has left ( Novalee believes that the number 5 is a sign of trouble or a negative event of significance is to come because when she was 5, her mother left her for a baseball umpire and when she was a waitress at a restaurant, a regular customer went crazy and cut her on her arm from wrist to elbow and it took 55 stitches to close the wound ).

She meets Sister Husband ( Stockard Channing ), a woman who runs the Welcome Wagon in town, and mistakenly believes Novalee to be her long-lost relative Ruth Ann.

Novalee also meets a photographer named Moses Whitecotton ( Keith David ) who becomes her mentor in later years.

However, Sister Husband invites her in to stay for some cornbread and buttermilk, and Novalee plants the buckeye tree in Sister's yard.

After being asked by her nurse Lexie Coop ( Ashley Judd ) what she will name her baby girl, Novalee decides to name her baby Americus ( because Moses suggested Novalee to give her baby a strong name ).

Novalee admits to him that she lied and that she really loves him and they return to Oklahoma to get married in a Wal-Mart.

Since Novalee has only a few dollars, she secretly moves into the Wal-Mart store.

Later that evening, Novalee feels sick and runs into the bathroom to vomit, and when she comes out again she discovers that the store is closed, locked, and dark.

Novalee goes to Sister Husband's house and explains that she is not Ruth Ann.

While in the hospital, Novalee gets a visit from her mother ( Sally Field ), whom she has not seen since she was a child.

Novalee shows her the $ 500 that she was given by the President of the Wal-Mart chain to her mother.

Novalee remembers that, in the hospital, she was reading cards that people sent to her and that one card post marked and sent from Midnight Mississippi said her baby was an abomination under God.

Five years pass, and Novalee begins a career as a photographer with the help of Moses Whitecotton ( whom she befriended in the Wal-mart ).

After the funeral, one of Sister Husband's friends from AA informs Novalee that she is the beneficiary of Sister's estate, worth around $ 41, 000.

Novalee cannot hear what he is saying, and eventually perceives that something bad has happened so she drives to Lexie's house.

On Americus's 5th birthday, Novalee is paranoid about her party because of the unlucky 5 ( when Americus was 5 days old, she had jaundice ; at 5 weeks old, she had an ear infection ; at 5 months old, she was kidnapped ).

For the rest of the afternoon, Novalee browses Wal-Mart.

Later, Novalee is shown to have a good time at Sister Husband's house.

This shocks Novalee about her unlucky number and races home to find out that Americus was kidnapped.