From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishtug at somebody’s heart/heartstringstug at somebody’s heart/heartstringswritten to make someone feel sympathy for someone or something → tug
Examples from the Corpus
tug at somebody’s heart/heartstrings• The sight of the puppies in the cages tugged at the women's hearts.• Charity had felt something tug at her heart the moment she had first seen this cove. 