Where the Heart Is Chapter Summary & Analysis | Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Summary

Novalee Nation, who is pregnant, is left at Wal-Mart by her boyfriend, Willy Jack Pickens. Though she never had a real family or home, Novalee and her daughter find their own family and home while Willy Jack suffers for his misdeeds.

Novalee Nation, who is seven months pregnant at seventeen and superstitious about sevens, touches her stomach while in the car. Seven is bad for her because her mother left her for an umpire named Fred on her seventh birthday, and her best friend Rhonda in seventh grade got sent to juvenile hall for stealing. She tries to avoid sevens, but things happen, like getting stabbed. When she was a waitress at Red's, a crazy customer named Gladys stabbed her, and Novalee needed seventy-seven stitches. Now, she has to go to the bathroom, but they have already stopped once. They are in Oklahoma. Willy Jack Pickens drives the Plymouth. He...
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