Jesse is a 42-year-old white police officer serving as a sheriff's deputy in a rural Southern town. Raised in a highly segregated environment, he holds intense racist beliefs and actively enforces white supremacy. He struggles with sexual dysfunction that he can only temporarily overcome by recalling or enacting acts of racial violence. His sense of authority and masculinity depends entirely on his ability to dominate the town's black citizens.

Old Julia's Grandson is a young black man acting as a leader for the local demonstrations against segregation and police brutality. He endures severe physical abuse from the police force but refuses to surrender his cause. He recognizes Jesse from a childhood encounter, directly challenging the officer by demanding respect for his grandmother and promising that the protests will continue.

Grace is Jesse's white wife. She attempts to comfort her husband but finds herself rebuffed due to his internal distress. Completely unaware of the true depth of his psychological turmoil, she assumes he is simply exhausted from working long hours at the jailhouse. She functions as a quiet sounding board for his late-night complaints about the civil rights protestors.

Old Julia, properly known as Mrs. Julia Blossom, is an impoverished black woman who purchases items from Jesse when he works as a payment collector. Her grandson insists Jesse address her by her formal name to protest the historical disrespect she endured. She represents the older generation of marginalized black citizens in the community.

Big Jim C. is a high-ranking white police officer overseeing the local law enforcement. He embodies the institutional racism of the town's police force. He directs his subordinates to violently beat the young protestor in order to make an example of him and silence the singing demonstrators outside the jail.

Jesse's Father is a rural sheriff seen in Jesse's childhood memories. He serves as his son's primary role model in enforcing the town's violent racial hierarchy. By carrying young Jesse on his shoulders during a gruesome community lynching, he treats the horrifying spectacle as a rite of passage. He teaches his son to link extreme violence with community bonding and white power.

Jesse's Mother appears in flashbacks to Jesse's childhood, participating willingly in the town's culture of racial violence. While she occasionally scolds Jesse or appears domesticated, she dresses up in fine clothes to attend a brutal lynching. Her actions show how deeply normalized the violence is within their family unit.

Otis is an 8-year-old black boy who plays with Jesse during their childhood. His sudden disappearance from their shared play area occurs just before a major act of racial violence in the town. His sudden absence forces young Jesse to confront the terrifying and dangerous divide separating the black and white residents of their community.

The Lynched Man is an unnamed black victim in Jesse's most formative childhood memory. Accused of attacking a white woman, he is chained, burned, and castrated by a frenzied crowd. His brutal murder leaves a permanent, traumatic imprint on Jesse's developing mind, inextricably connecting extreme violence with physical arousal and power.