Matt is a 55-year-old department store owner who has spent his entire life in a working-class Massachusetts seaside town. To the outside world, he appears ordinary, quiet, and law-abiding. Beneath this placid exterior, he suppresses intense emotions, including deep grief over his son's death and fierce anger regarding the man responsible. He spends his days calculating how to handle the fact that his son's killer is walking free on bail.

Frank is Matt and Ruth's youngest son, whose recent death at the age of 21 serves as the catalyst for the family's grief. Before his passing, he was a handsome, athletic, six-foot-tall young man waiting to begin a graduate program in economics while working as a summer lifeguard at Salisbury Beach. His youth and vitality stand in sharp contrast to his father's aging resignation.

Richard is a 26-year-old former high school and college athlete who currently works as a bartender in Hampton Beach. He dropped out of the University of Massachusetts and refused to join his father's construction business. He possesses a volatile temper, a lingering aggression, and often gets into physical altercations around town. His freedom causes immense psychological distress for the Fowler family.

Ruth is Matt's wife of thirty-one years and the mother of Steve, Cathleen, and Frank. She is exhausted and overwhelmed by the grief of losing her youngest child. Seeing the man responsible for her son's death walking freely around town causes her acute distress, which deeply affects her husband and drives much of his anger.

Mary Ann is Richard Strout's estranged wife and the mother of his two young sons. She is four years older than Frank and is described as highly attractive, with tanned skin and long brown hair. Her pending divorce and her reputation around town cause concern for the Fowler parents, though she draws intense attention from the men around her.

Willis is a 48-year-old, short, silver-haired man who owns a large restaurant in town. He is a close confidant to Matt Fowler, sharing his disgust for Richard Strout. He keeps tabs on Richard's whereabouts, gathering information at his restaurant's bar, and discusses these movements with Matt over late-night drinks at his home.

Steve is Matt and Ruth's 28-year-old eldest son. He has thinning hair and works as a bank manager in Baltimore. He returns to Massachusetts briefly for his younger brother's funeral before heading back to his wife and his job, physically distancing himself from the immediate aftermath of the tragedy.

Cathleen is the middle child of Matt and Ruth Fowler. She lives in Syracuse with her husband and her own children. She returns to her hometown only briefly to mourn Frank's passing, sharing in the family's immediate grief before returning to her own life out of state.