Margot is a frail nine-year-old girl who relocated to the underground colonies of Venus from Ohio five years ago. Because she remembers the sun, she struggles with the constant rain and gray environment of her new home. She isolates herself from her peers, speaking softly and refusing to participate in communal classroom games unless the songs are about summer. Her parents are considering the costly option of moving her back to Earth.

William is a nine-year-old boy in Margot's class who acts as the primary instigator of the bullying directed at her. He uses aggressive, dismissive language to mock her memories, often claiming the impending weather changes are fake. Driven by an underlying resentment of her unique experiences on Earth, he rallies his classmates to join him in his cruelty.

The unnamed nine-year-old students in Margot's class have lived their entire lives on Venus and possess no subjective memory of the sun. They act largely as a monolithic group, sharing communal sleeping quarters and maintaining a tightly enforced conformity. Fueled by jealousy over Margot's past on Earth and her possible future return, they close ranks against her.

The unnamed instructor is responsible for educating the nine-year-olds on Venus about the sun and managing their daily activities. Presumably born on Earth herself, she guides the students but demonstrates a weak grasp on classroom dynamics. Her intervention in the peer conflicts remains ineffective, leaving vulnerable students exposed to group aggression.