public function load($id, $field=null)
{
    $this->_beforeLoad($id, $field);
    $this->_getResource()->load($this, $id, $field);
    $this->_afterLoad();
    $this->setOrigData();
    $this->_hasDataChanges = false;
    return $this;
}

public function load($object, $entityId, $attributes = array())
    {
        Varien_Profiler::start('__EAV_LOAD_MODEL__');
        /**
         * Load object base row data
         */
        $select  = $this->_getLoadRowSelect($object, $entityId);
        $row     = $this->_getReadAdapter()->fetchRow($select);

        ...

        if (empty($attributes)) {
            $this->loadAllAttributes($object);
        } else {
            foreach ($attributes as $attrCode) {
                $this->getAttribute($attrCode);
            }
        }

        $this->_loadModelAttributes($object);

        ...
    }

$this->_getResource()->load($this, $id, $field); in Mage_Core_Model_Abstract

public function load(Mage_Core_Model_Abstract $object, $value, $field = null)
{
    if (is_null($field)) {
        $field = $this->getIdFieldName();
    }

    $read = $this->_getReadAdapter();
    if ($read && !is_null($value)) {
        $select = $this->_getLoadSelect($field, $value, $object);
        $data = $read->fetchRow($select);

        if ($data) {
            $object->setData($data);
        }
    }

    $this->unserializeFields($object);