The unnamed narrator is a Nigerian-American medical student of psychiatry returning to Lagos after 15 years in the United States. Following the death of his Black Nigerian father and an estrangement from his white mother, he struggles to figure out his cultural belonging. Because of his light skin and Americanized habits, locals frequently mistake him for a Westerner. He is highly observant and searches for an artistic community in his homeland while wrestling with the everyday frustrations of Lagosian life.

Aunty Folake is the narrator's aunt, a devout Christian who warmly welcomes her nephew back to Nigeria. She is a practical and resilient woman who founded a local school in the 1980s. She acts as an early guide for the narrator, casually explaining the informal economy of police bribes and managing the daily stressors of Lagos with a pragmatism he lacks.

Uncle Bello is a Muslim man living harmoniously with his devout Christian sister, Aunty Folake. He is a pragmatic Lagosian who understands the necessity of projecting toughness to avoid victimization in the city. He shares anecdotes about surviving threats of violence with calculated aggression, illustrating the psychological armor required to survive the streets.

Rotimi is the narrator's childhood best friend who has remained in Nigeria and become a practicing physician. Despite his prestigious medical career, he earns close to subsistence wages, forcing him to endure daily hardships like driving a car without air conditioning. His situation deeply affects the narrator, acting as a reflection of what life might have been like had he stayed in Lagos.

Amina is the narrator's first love, now married to a banker and raising a daughter. Having survived a tragic accident that resulted in the loss of her hand, she has had to relearn how to write and adapt to a new physical reality. Her reunion with the narrator is polite but emotionally stilted, emphasizing the irrecoverable nature of their past.

Henry is a successful banker and Amina's husband. His lucrative career provides his family with a comfortable, upper-middle-class lifestyle in a country struggling with poverty. During the narrator's visit, his polite but firm presence ensures the conversation remains focused on the present rather than his wife's romantic past.

Muyiwa is the narrator's cousin who possesses a practical understanding of the local internet scammers. He explains to the narrator that many of these scammers are university students trying to impress their peers, viewing the pervasive fraud with a sense of normalized resignation.

Adebola is the narrator's young nephew, an earnest student attending a school founded by a noted humanist. Despite his humanist education, he displays the rigid, binary thinking common in modern Nigeria, adamantly equating humanism with atheism when speaking with his uncle.

Oluwafemi is an old friend of the narrator who comes to check on him near the end of his trip. When the narrator admits he is sick with malaria, Oluwafemi advises him to simply stop believing he has the illness, embodying a kind of magical thinking that the narrator views as symptomatic of larger national problems.

Mr. Wuraola is the owner of a local school who works closely with Aunty Folake. He assists in the stressful, high-risk process of unloading a shipping container full of educational supplies, demonstrating the logistical hurdles and physical dangers required to accomplish civic good in Lagos.

Chinedu is a law clerk working for Mrs. Aboaba who frequently runs errands for his employer. He is eager to connect with the narrator, viewing the American visitor as a potential avenue for his own upward mobility and emigration. His desperation highlights the vast social inequalities in Nigerian society.

Mrs. Aboaba is an acquaintance whose son has given the narrator some books. She insists on sending her clerk, Chinedu, to retrieve them rather than letting the narrator visit her home, inadvertently facilitating the narrator's interaction with the eager young clerk.

Sola is Rotimi's deceased brother and a childhood friend of the narrator. He tragically died at age 15 after falling from the back of a moving car, a devastating event that permanently altered his family's dynamic and caused his parents to become fiercely protective of his surviving brother.

Mrs. Adelaja is a family friend who attends a local wedding looking radiant and composed, despite having survived a horrific home invasion in 1998 that resulted in the murder of her husband. To the narrator, she embodies the quiet dignity and repressed grief of Nigerians who endure immense trauma while maintaining a stoic public facade.

Mr. Adelaja is the deceased husband of Mrs. Adelaja. In 1998, he was taken from his home by armed robbers, locked in the trunk of a car, and ultimately murdered to eliminate witnesses. His horrific fate highlights the extreme violence and lack of security that plagues the local population.

Uncle Tunde is a relative of the narrator who serves as a bridge of information regarding the narrator's estranged family. He is the one who informed the narrator that his white mother had relocated to the Western United States following his departure from Lagos.