Carrie is a sixteen-year-old high school student in Chamberlain, Maine. She suffers extreme isolation due to her dowdy appearance and her mother's fanatic religious teachings. When extreme emotional distress triggers her latent telekinetic abilities, she begins testing the limits of her newfound physical autonomy. She desperately craves ordinary teenage experiences and basic human respect.

Sue is a popular student who conforms to the expectations of her wealthy social clique until a jarring incident forces a moral awakening. Stricken with intense guilt over her cruelty toward a defenseless peer, she rejects her friends' unrepentant attitudes. She attempts to make amends by arranging a normal teenage experience for the girl she wronged. This decision places her outside her comfortable social bubble.

Margaret is a physically imposing, fundamentalist Christian who views all female sexuality as an inherent sin. She maintains strict control over her household through religious terror, physical abuse, and forced sessions at a home altar. She deeply fears her daughter's physical maturation and views any signs of independence as demonic corruption.

Chris is an attractive, highly popular student who exercises control over her peers through intimidation and cruel pranks. She is accustomed to escaping consequences due to her father's legal influence and reacts with furious indignation when the school administration bans her from the prom. She immediately begins organizing a vindictive scheme to maintain her status and ruin her target's life.

Tommy is an athletic, well-liked high school student dating Sue Snell. He possesses an easygoing demeanor that contrasts with the intense social cruelty of the popular clique. When his girlfriend asks him to invite an outcast to the school dance, he agrees out of devotion to her, quickly demonstrating a genuine, fundamental kindness toward his anxious date.

Billy is a local delinquent who actively enjoys physical aggression and property damage. He treats those around him with domineering hostility and views his romantic relationship primarily through the lens of power and physical transaction. He serves as the blunt, muscular instrument for his girlfriend's calculated social vengeance.

Miss Desjardin is the high school physical education teacher who attempts to maintain order among the teenage girls. Though she initially feels a complicated mixture of pity and disgust toward the school's primary outcast, she possesses a firm moral compass. She tries to enforce strict punishments for the bullying, placing her directly in the crosshairs of angry students and parents.

Principal Grayle is the weary administrator of Chamberlain's high school. He is tasked with managing both unruly students and their litigious parents. He supports his teaching staff when they attempt to discipline severe bullying.

Mr. Hargensen is a wealthy and influential local lawyer who frequently uses his status to shield his daughter from the consequences of her actions. He approaches school discipline as a legal negotiation, attempting to pressure the administration into dropping punishments.

Norma is a high school student and a member of the popular clique. She operates on the periphery of the main bullying circle and adopts a falsely friendly demeanor to scrutinize and mock those outside her social standing.