Keith is a lawyer who works in the World Trade Center. He bases his professional and personal identity on his corporate success and his proximity to the city's tallest buildings. Following the attacks, he escapes the collapsing towers and arrives at his estranged wife's apartment in a state of shock. He relies on physical therapy routines and casino card games to restore a sense of order and control to his daily life.

Lianne is a freelance book editor who runs a writing therapy group for patients with early-stage Alzheimer's disease. She lives separately from her husband Keith, observing the world from a cautious distance. She rigidly enforces grammatical rules in her editing work to maintain a sense of order, while harboring intense anxieties about memory loss, aging, and her family's historical legacy.

Justin is the young son of Keith and Lianne. Shielded from television news broadcasts by his mother, he attempts to understand the sudden tension in his household and his father's unexpected return. He spends his time communicating in secret codes and scanning the sky with binoculars alongside his friends, inventing stories to explain a changing world.

Hammad is an engineering student from the Middle East living in Germany. He associates with a group of radical religious scholars and attends local prayer meetings. He experiences doubts about his ideological path, showing interest in Western culture and dating, but faces intense pressure from his peers to commit fully to an extremist cause.

Nina is Lianne's mother, a retired woman with a deep appreciation for art and philosophy. She relies on pain medication and cigarettes to manage physical ailments following a knee replacement. She openly favors creative individuals over corporate professionals, frequently expressing her disapproval of Keith while ignoring the controversial political history of her own romantic partner.

A performance artist who stages unannounced physical demonstrations across New York City. Dressed in professional attire, he uses a safety harness to suspend himself from tall structures. His sudden appearances command the attention of passing crowds and force onlookers to confront difficult memories.

Florence is a survivor of the World Trade Center attacks whose lost briefcase is accidentally recovered by Keith. She invites him into her home and shares her specific, detailed memories of the disaster. She seeks an emotional connection with someone who fundamentally understands her experience, as she struggles to reconcile her religious faith with the tragedy.

Martin is an erudite German art dealer who spends time traveling between Europe and the United States. He maintains a romantic relationship with Nina, bonding over their shared love of paintings and philosophical discussion. He brings a historical, European perspective to conversations about American politics, drawing suspicion due to his past involvement with a 1960s radical student commune.

Amir is an Egyptian religious scholar who leads political and spiritual discussions in Germany. He advocates for a strict, militant interpretation of his faith. He actively mentors younger men in his community, specifically targeting their worldly interests and pressuring them toward radical action.

Rumsey is an office worker in the World Trade Center and a long-time associate of Keith. He exhibits obsessive-compulsive traits and regularly participates in a weekly six-man poker game. He deeply appreciates the silly rituals and strict rules of their private card games.

Terry is a professional card player and a former member of Keith's weekly New York poker circle. He spends his time in high-stakes environments, reminiscing about their past games, including the cigars they smoked and the custom rules they invented.

Isabel is a New York mother whose twin children regularly play with Justin. She monitors her children as they develop secretive habits and whisper in semi-gibberish, attempting to maintain a sense of household normalcy in a highly tense environment.

The Siblings are Isabel's twin children and Justin's closest playmates. They form an insular group that uses binoculars to search the New York skyline, communicating in coded language about an imaginary figure they believe is responsible for the unrest in their city.

Elena is a young woman who lives in the apartment directly below Lianne. She frequently plays what her neighbors perceive as Middle Eastern music, defending her choice of art as beautiful and peaceful when confronted in the hallway.

Jack is Lianne's father and Nina's former husband. An architect who designed buildings in Greece, his past struggles with early-onset dementia heavily influence his daughter's daily anxieties about memory and personal legacy.