Olaf is a nearly sixty-year-old Danish night porter. A former sailor, he considers himself an egalitarian who accepts all kinds of men. His self-perception shatters when an unusually large black sailor checks into the hotel. The arrival triggers deeply rooted racial prejudices and intense feelings of physical inadequacy in the aging clerk.

Jim is a powerfully built, immaculately dressed black American sailor. He is a man of few words who carries a large sum of money and expects standard service from the hotel staff. Despite his calm demeanor and ordinary requests, his physical presence provokes severe anxiety in the night porter.

Lena is a big, blonde woman who supplements her income through sex work at the waterfront hotel. She operates practically and ignores the racial anxieties that consume the night porter. To her, a client's money matters more than their appearance or background.

Karen is Olaf's wife. She provides a sense of stability for the aging night porter. Her presence represents the ordinary, domestic life he returns to after his shifts at the Copenhagen waterfront.

The owner of the Copenhagen hotel where Olaf works. She runs a pragmatic business on the waterfront and vacations in Sweden while leaving the property in the hands of her night porter.