Felipe is a 27-year-old historian who teaches part-time at a private school for 900 pesos a month. Educated on scholarship at the Sorbonne in Paris, his academic focus centers on the Spanish Golden Age and the colonization of South America. He moves into a dark colonial mansion to earn enough money to fund his independent research but quickly develops an intense fixation on the household's younger resident.

Consuelo is an elderly widow living in a decaying mansion at Donceles 815 in Mexico City's historic center. She remains devoted to the memory of her deceased husband and hires a scholar to organize his French memoirs for publication before she dies. She maintains a house without electric light, surrounds herself with religious imagery, and exhibits strange habits involving animal companions.

Aura is Consuelo's young niece and live-in companion. She possesses striking green eyes and moves with silent obedience around the unlit mansion, entirely managing the household's daily routines. Her quiet demeanor and seeming subservience to her aunt immediately draw Felipe's attention, making him view her as a captive in need of a savior.

General Llorente is a deceased Mexican aristocrat who supported Emperor Maximilian I and lived much of his life in exile in Paris. His history emerges gradually through his journal entries, which detail his 19th-century military career and his intense devotion to his teenage bride. He represents a bridge between Mexico's colonial past and European influence.