Ms. Mooney is a 30-year-old teacher dealing with addictions to alcohol and cocaine. She performs her job poorly, routinely fabricating her students' test scores and drinking during her lunch breaks. Her substance use isolates her from meaningful human connection, leaving her largely alone except for weekend visits from a younger partner.

Mr. Wu is a middle-aged man living in a densely populated, dirty city. He spends hours at a local computer arcade fixated on a woman who works there. He struggles with intense fears of physical contamination and uses manipulative tactics to force an interaction with his crush.

An unemployed man living near Los Angeles with severe bulimia. He hyper-fixates on his perceived physical flaws, particularly an extensive body rash and what he considers feminine hands. His eating disorder dictates his daily routine and severely limits his ability to interact with others.

A woman living in an apartment complex she loves with a boyfriend she despises. She deals with her partner's intense paranoia and drug use by mentally detaching and projecting her feelings onto the crows outside her window.

Charles is a wealthy real estate lawyer who prides himself on his refinement. He owns an expensive condominium in Murray Hill and views himself in direct opposition to his physically imposing younger brother. When isolated at the unpowered cabin, his sophisticated facade breaks down.

A 64-year-old widower employed at a private residential facility. He harbors deep resentment toward his late wife and feels grateful that her belongings have been removed from his home. He redirects his nurturing instincts toward propagating succulents in old china bowls.

A high school English teacher who vacations in a rural town during the summer. She views the local residents with intense disdain, referring to them as zombies, despite relying on them to supply her regular drug purchases. She uses the town to escape the demands of city life.

A 60-year-old homeowner with vitiligo who spends his days spying on his younger neighbor through a basement vent. He adopts a harmless, folksy persona to mask his predatory intentions and deep-seated entitlement regarding women.

A wealthy doctor whose wife of 29 years passes away suddenly on their couch. Initially presented as a devoted and predictable husband, his grief quickly turns to volatile anger when he discovers an ambiguous vacation photograph in her belongings.

An 18-year-old aspiring actor from Utah attempting to launch his career in Hollywood. He works nights at a pizza parlor and faces constant rejection, leading him to seek profound emotional comfort from his elderly landlady.

A 34-year-old man living in an unregulated, eight-by-eight room in New York City. He carries massive credit card debt from purchasing luxury clothing. He fixates on a woman he views as a ticket to financial stability, while secretly desiring someone to ruin him.

A white woman employed as a surrogate vice-president for an Asian-American company. She uses her conventional beauty to secure business deals but hides her body in private due to a painful physical condition she blames on demonic possession.

A shy and anxious music student who gets trapped in a fifth-floor rehearsal room with her eccentric boyfriend. The crisis forces her to recognize her own desire for independence.

A deeply depressed young girl suffering from severe anxiety. She believes she is an alien trapped on Earth and decides she must murder a specific man to open a tunnel back to her home planet.

A college-aged man who visits Ms. Mooney on weekends. He actively avoids looking closely at her private life and pretends not to notice her severe alcohol consumption.

Ms. Mooney's only adult friend. She uses her visits to the city primarily as an opportunity to experience the nightlife and meet strangers.

A nameless woman who runs a small storefront with internet-connected computers. She ignores Mr. Wu on the street but becomes the target of his obsessive attention.

The narrator's only regular contact, an unemployed man receiving disability benefits. He uses a colostomy bag and constantly consumes food, mirroring his nephew's disordered eating habits.

A member of the Chumash tribe living in Lone Pine. She tells the narrator she wants to get pregnant just to have something to occupy her thoughts during the day.

The manager of the apartment complex where he lives with the narrator. He holds intense conspiratorial beliefs, worships a crystal skull, and purchases a gun to eradicate the birds around their building.

A prospective tenant whom the narrator judges based on her unusual clothing. She offers the narrator a black feather meant to induce dreams about her boyfriend.

Charles's younger brother, who works in a factory and wears ratty clothing. He is described in animalistic terms, eating voraciously and acting loudly, serving as the complete opposite to Charles's curated intellectualism.

Charles's wife, who is expecting their son. Charles feels she mistreats him, prompting his sudden departure to the woods.

A young local woman who arrives at the family cabin with drugs. She accepts Charles's lie that he and his brother are romantically involved and shares her methamphetamines with him.

The oldest of the three men Larry chaperones at Offerings. He enjoys making dirty jokes, maintains a secret stash of pornography, and actively desires to experience adult situations.

A local man who manages the narrator's property while she works in the city. He previously had a brief affair with her and acted as her guide to the town's drug trade.

A young, heavily pregnant local girl from Alna. She offers to clean houses for rates below minimum wage out of sheer desperation.

A woman in her thirties who moves next door to Jeb. She quickly sees through his folksy exterior, recognizing him as one of many predatory men she has encountered.

John's wife, who dies silently on the couch while he makes popcorn. She leaves behind a half-developed photo that severely damages her husband's memory of her.

A worker on the tropical island who rescues John from the surf during a storm. He walks away when he realizes John has no money.

A Holocaust survivor in her sixties who rents rooms in her run-down house. She provides the narrator with intense affection, praying over him and inviting him into her bed to cry.

A furniture designer who becomes the immediate object of Nick's intense infatuation. She answers his manufactured emails with noncommittal brevity.

An old woman who works at a local bar. She engages Nick in a prolonged staring contest, reading his desire to be destroyed.

A man who works alongside Stephanie. He maintains eccentric habits, such as eating volcanic ash, and claims to have suffered as a mule in a past life.

A pragmatic businessman who believes American negotiators will respond better to a beautiful white woman than to him. His sudden disappearance collapses the company.

The narrator's boyfriend, who dresses eccentrically, draws on fake mustaches, and ignores social conventions. When trapped in the room, he suggests they stay there forever, believing the outside world is a hallucination.

Urszula's twin brother. He helps her gather poisonous berries but is ultimately too afraid to follow her into Jaskolka's house, opting to wait outside and cry.

Referred to by Urszula as "the woman." She grew up next door to Jarek Jaskolka and bears thick, worm-like scars on her legs from the abuse he inflicted on her as a child.

A man living next to the cemetery with a long history of hurting young girls. He is protected by the willful ignorance of the local community until Urszula arrives at his door with a butcher knife.