Maria is a reserved and beautiful young Catholic woman living on her family's remote farm in rural Québec. Raised in the demanding environment of the wilderness, she possesses a guileless demeanor and strong domestic skills. Her daily life centers on the seasonal rhythms of nature and the strict tenets of her faith. She quietly yearns for a future offering profound love or a reprieve from the severe subarctic climate.

Samuel is the patriarch of the Chapdelaine family and a resilient frontiersman. He dedicates his life to "making land" by clearing dense forests to build farms, a physically exhausting vocation he views as his righteous Catholic duty. Driven by a restless spirit, he frequently uproots his family to start over in deeper stretches of the uncultivated wilderness once a farm becomes established.

Madame Chapdelaine is an extroverted, hardworking homemaker who raises six children while helping to maintain the family's farmstead. She harbors a quiet nostalgia for her earlier life in the more populated village of St. Prime, preferring the company of others over the isolated wilderness. Despite this preference, she dutifully and serenely obeys her husband's commands to continually move further into the woods.

François is a free-spirited backwoodsman from Mistassini who earns his living by logging and trading furs with local Indigenous tribes. After selling his deceased father's farm, he embraces a nomadic lifestyle suited to his adventurous nature. He is handsome, confident, and stands out to Maria as a figure of romance who embodies the wilder aspects of the Canadian environment.

Eutrope is a good-hearted, humble farmer and the sole neighbor to the Chapdelaine family. He runs a nearby farm with his brother Egide and represents the traditional, grounded life of the French-Canadian habitant. He is shy but reliable, holding a quiet affection for Maria while dedicating his days to the grueling labor of rural agriculture.

Lorenzo is a former Québec resident who emigrated to the United States to work in a Massachusetts factory. He firmly rejects the demanding, poverty-stricken lifestyle of rural farming in favor of consistent wages and modern urban conveniences. Confident and persuasive, he offers Maria a glimpse into a vastly different, modernized world far removed from the Canadian wilderness.

Esdras is Maria's eldest brother. He spends the severe winter months earning wages in remote logging shanties before returning home to assist his father with the grueling summer work of clearing land and harvesting crops.

Da'Be is Maria's older brother who shares the heavy labor responsibilities of the Chapdelaine family. Like Esdras, he splits his year between dangerous winter work in the lumber camps and exhausting agricultural labor on the family homestead.

Tit'Be is Maria's fourteen-year-old younger brother. Despite his youth, he works from dawn until dusk alongside his father, splitting logs, tending the vital cast-iron stove during winter, and helping to clear the surrounding forest.

Telesphore is one of Maria's younger siblings. Raised in the isolation of the Northern Québec woods, his daily life centers entirely around faith and survival against the elements.

Alma Rose is the youngest of the Chapdelaine children. She spends her days in the farmhouse with her mother and sister, observing the strict religious and domestic routines that define their frontier existence.

Edwige is a hired hand employed by the Chapdelaines to assist with the immense physical task of making land. He is a veteran woodsman who pushes himself to the point of physical collapse, driven by a rigid work ethic and pride in his endurance.

Egide is Eutrope's brother who shares ownership of their nearby farm. He works seasonally as a log driver on the Peribonka river, leaving Eutrope to manage their agricultural duties alone during his absences.

Ephrem is a local resident of Honfleur and Lorenzo's uncle. He hosts gatherings that bring together the isolated members of the rural community, providing rare opportunities for social interaction and debate.

The chief priest of St. Henri serves as a spiritual counselor for the isolated rural congregation. He enforces the strict tenets of the Catholic faith, advising his parishioners to accept hardship without complaint and rigidly adhere to their religious and familial duties.

Tit'Sebe is a rural bonesetter and local medical practitioner. Operating in a region largely devoid of formal medical infrastructure, he relies on a combination of traditional remedies and a fatalistic belief in divine will when treating his patients.