Novalee Nation is the protagonist of the novel. She is a seventeen-year-old girl with long dark hair and a scar on her arm from an attack by a woman at the diner where she worked. Novalee has lived a difficult life in her seventeen years, moving from home to home since her mother abandoned her when she was seven. Even when her mother was part of her life, Novalee’s life was unstable, as her mother often left her alone or forgot her in public places. Novalee is a high school dropout when the novel begins who worked as a waitress in a diner until her boyfriend, Willy Jack Pickens, decides they should move to California. However, they are only in Oklahoma with several more states to cross when Willy Jack abandons Novalee at a Walmart.

Novalee is uncomfortable asking for help, and she ends up living in the Walmart instead of informing anyone of her situation. However, she takes on the responsibility of caring for a buckeye tree despite not having a place to live. This tree is meant to bring her good luck, something Novalee believes she is lacking due to her theory that bad things happen to her whenever the number seven is involved.