Sophie is a 36-year-old woman who was born into slavery and now leads a household of women in the all-Black settlement of Nicodemus, Kansas. She is fiercely protective of her family and land, actively campaigning to establish a self-sufficient, all-Black utopia free from white speculators. Stubborn and practical, she keeps her shotgun close at hand to defend her home against any threats.

Miss Leah is a 73-year-old former slave and one of the earliest settlers of Nicodemus. She lives with Sophie and her sisters, acting as the family's cantankerous but loving matriarch. Carrying the deep trauma of losing fifteen children during and immediately following slavery, she values oral storytelling and serves as a living connection to the past.

Fannie is a 32-year-old woman who was born free and serves as the gentle, romantic peacemaker of the household. She works on a book documenting the town's history through Miss Leah's stories and plants flowers around their practical wheat farm to bring beauty to the harsh frontier. She maintains an eternally optimistic outlook, sometimes to a fault when dealing with family conflicts.

Wil is a 40-year-old former slave who has settled in Kansas after living in Florida and Mexico. He is a reliable neighbor who helps the women establish and maintain their homesteads, as well as tending to the absent Baker family's farm. Taught by his mother to revere Black women, he provides steady, respectful support to the household.

Minnie is the youngest sister of the Dove family, visiting Kansas from London just before her twenty-first birthday. Having married an older man after a whirlwind two-week courtship, she attempts to project an image of worldly sophistication. Beneath her expensive clothes, she is homesick, eager to please, and working hard to conceal her husband's abusive behavior from her family.

Frank is Minnie's 36-year-old husband, a poet visiting the United States to settle his late father's estate in New Orleans. Born to a white slaveowner and a Black mother, Frank aligns himself entirely with his white heritage and openly disdains fully Black communities. He utilizes false charm to manipulate those around him while subjecting his young wife to verbal and physical abuse behind closed doors.