Mrs. Baroda is a wealthy planter's wife who views herself as a sensible and highly respectable woman. Married to Gaston, she enjoys a comfortable, affectionate domestic life but finds her sense of identity challenged by the arrival of a houseguest. She possesses intense self-awareness and spends considerable time analyzing her own psychological and physical responses.

Gaston is a wealthy sugar planter in post-Civil War Louisiana who enjoys a loving partnership with his wife. He is a social, hospitable man who frequently uses French Creole expressions. He displays a practical nature and accepts his wife's changing moods with ease, even when he does not fully understand them.

Gouvernail is a journalist and Gaston's former college classmate visiting the plantation for a rest. He subverts expectations by being quiet, passive, and highly appreciative of the natural world rather than displaying academic brilliance. He spends his time sitting on the portico, petting the dogs, and absorbing the sensory details of his surroundings.