Carrie is a 30-year-old homemaker living in Los Angeles who set aside her college teaching ambitions when her husband secured a medical fellowship at UCLA. She has been married for a decade and struggles with infertility, a painful reality that significantly damages her self-esteem. She frequently listens to singer-songwriters like Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell. Polite and considerate, she prefers to avoid direct confrontation, opting instead to gather information through written correspondence.

David is a 37-year-old high school biology teacher who lives with his wife and four sons. He takes on extra jobs, such as coaching girls' sports teams, to support his large family financially. The economic strain makes him feel inadequate as a provider and ages him prematurely, giving him gray hair and a bad back. He previously enjoyed collecting pennies off the street but stopped out of shame over his financial situation. He is deeply devoted to his children and fears losing access to them above all else.

Ken is a dermatologist and fellow at UCLA who has been married to Carrie for ten years. He maintains rigid daily routines, such as eating the same turkey sandwich every day for lunch and listening exclusively to a narrow selection of music. He uses his medical authority to influence his wife's choices, insisting that working might harm her chances of becoming pregnant. This safe, boring exterior masks an unfaithful and manipulative side, as he uses medical conferences to facilitate his secret life.

Janet is a married mother of four sons who handles the bulk of the domestic duties for her household. Feeling overwhelmed by a messy house and her family's financial anxiety, she finds herself drawn to an escape from her reality. Her correspondence reveals a woman seeking to feel desirable, noting how her lover makes her feel beautiful even in an old wrap dress and beat-up boots. She wants to be liberated from the strict confines of traditional homemaking.