Overview of Places in the Heart (1984) Places in the Heart is a heartfelt drama set in 1930s Texas during the Great Depression. It follows Edna Spalding, a recently widowed mother who is suddenly left to raise her two children alone after her husband, the town sheriff, is killed. With no income and the bank threatening to take her home, Edna is forced to fight for her family’s survival. She decides to plant and harvest cotton to save her farm, but she can’t do it alone. Edna forms an unlikely te