Trang is an 18-year-old Vietnamese woman from a poor farming family. Driven by a desire to help her parents pay off their severe debts, she moves to Sài Gòn to work as a "bar girl." She values her rural upbringing, traditional morals, and education, making her adjustment to sex work highly distressing. She eventually forms a deep connection with an American helicopter pilot named Dan, who knows her only by her pseudonym, "Kim."

Phong is an Amerasian man born to a Vietnamese mother and a Black American soldier during the war. Abandoned at an orphanage as a child, he grows up facing intense, lifelong discrimination in Việt Nam due to his mixed-race heritage and dark skin. As an adult, he works as a relatively successful farmer who desperately searches for information about his parents to understand his origins and secure a better future for his wife and children.

Dan is an American veteran who served as a helicopter pilot in Việt Nam during the war. He returns to the country decades later with his wife, Linda, hoping to confront his post-traumatic stress disorder. Unbeknownst to Linda, he harbors deep guilt over abandoning his pregnant Vietnamese girlfriend, "Kim," and secretly hopes to locate her during their trip.

Quỳnh is Trang's 17-year-old younger sister. She moves to the city and begins working as a bar girl alongside her sister to alleviate their family's financial burdens. Quỳnh quickly adapts to the harsh realities of city life, approaching sex work with a practical, emotionally detached mindset. She is highly critical of the American soldiers and views her interactions with them as strictly transactional.

Linda is Dan's steadfast and supportive wife. She travels with him to Việt Nam in 2016, believing the trip will help him process his wartime trauma. She is initially unaware of Dan's past relationship with a Vietnamese woman, approaching the trip with an eagerness to experience the country's culture, food, and architecture.

Hân is a friend of Trang and Quỳnh from their rural village. She recruits the sisters to join her in Sài Gòn as bar girls. Unlike Trang, Hân fully embraces her work and the financial independence it brings, feeling grateful toward the American forces and enjoying the freedom she finds away from the strictures of countryside life.

Thiên is a Vietnamese tour guide hired by Dan and Linda in 2016. A former soldier who fought alongside the Americans in the South Vietnamese army, he endured years in a re-education camp after the war. He is knowledgeable and perceptive, quickly seeing through Dan's excuses and challenging Dan's understanding of the conflict.

Bình is Phong's devoted wife. She met him at a traditional Vietnamese music performance and chose to marry him despite her family's strong objections to his dark skin and mixed-race heritage. She provides Phong with a loving, stable family life and supports his ongoing search for his origins.

Sister Nhã is a Catholic nun who cared for Phong at the Phú Long Orphanage in Sài Gòn. After being driven out of the orphanage, she raises Phong in a remote area designated for societal "outsiders." Before she falls ill, she shares the few known details of his origins with him.

Mr. Khuất is a man who takes in an adolescent Phong under the guise of wanting to help an Amerasian child. He secretly intends to use Phong's status as the child of an American soldier to secure a visa to emigrate to the United States.

The manager and madam of the Hollywood Bar in Sài Gòn where Trang, Quỳnh, and Hân work. She pushes the young women to accept the sexual expectations of their jobs and manages the transactional arrangements with American soldiers.

Tài is Phong and Bình's 14-year-old son. He experiences the secondary effects of the discrimination his father faces in Việt Nam, motivating Phong's desperate attempts to secure a visa.

Diễm is Phong and Bình's 12-year-old daughter. Like her brother, she stands by her parents as they face the bureaucratic and social challenges of applying for a visa to leave the country.

Thanh is a young English teacher living in the Mekong Delta. When Dan experiences a severe trauma response during a tour, Thanh offers him and Linda a place to rest and shares his own family's history with the war.