Nola is a 13-year-old Osage girl with a strong attachment to the traditional Hill Community. She avoids town life and resists the assimilationist policies of her Watona school, preferring traditional Osage clothing. Following her mother Grace's violent death, she inherits massive wealth, placing her in constant danger from outsiders seeking oil rights.

Belle is the traditionalist matriarch of the Graycloud family in Watona. She wears a sacred meteorite necklace, protects local wildlife like eagles and bats, and possesses a prophetic intuition. She takes in vulnerable members of her community, trying to connect the town-dwelling Osage and the traditionalists in the hills.

Moses is Belle's husband and a steadfast presence in Watona. He supports his wife's traditionalist practices and helps manage their property during the chaotic oil boom. He participates in letter-writing campaigns to the federal government to seek help for their endangered community.

Michael is an Osage elder and diviner who maintains a sacred fire as a firekeeper. He lives in a teepee and records the history and struggles of the Osage people in a series of detailed journals. He frequently experiences prophetic dreams and visions that warn him of upcoming violence.

Stace is a Lakota law enforcement officer stationed with the US Bureau of Investigation. His shared Indigenous heritage drives his professional interest in uncovering the truth behind the suspicious deaths in Osage country. He travels to Oklahoma to investigate the murders, facing systemic prejudice from his superiors along the way.

John is a tall, Stetson-wearing white rancher who transitions into the oil business. Despite a folksy exterior and lifelong residence among the Osage, he orchestrates predatory life insurance schemes and aggressively expands his land leases to exploit his Indigenous neighbors. He embodies the greed and corruption sweeping through Watona.

Grace is Nola's mother, an Osage woman who left the Hill Community to live in Watona. She embraces modernization, buys oil-rich land, and freely associates with white townspeople. Her violent death, staged as a suicide, acts as the catalyst for the widespread fear within the Osage community.

Benoit is an Osage horse trader known for his kind demeanor. He is legally married to Sara Blanket but maintains a committed romantic relationship with Lettie. He faces unjust suspicion and imprisonment from corrupt local authorities following violent incidents in the community.

Lettie is a young Osage woman deeply devoted to Benoit. She receives a grim fortune-teller's prophecy at a local carnival that accurately predicts incoming disaster. She constantly fears for her family's safety as she is aggressively courted by the local sheriff.

John is an elderly Osage hermit who lives with a pack of dogs. After collapsing and being buried, he wanders Watona, leading the townspeople to believe he is a ghost. He symbolizes the persistence of Indigenous spirit.

Willard is a young white man whose father manages Nola's financial accounts. He courts and marries Nola, bringing her expensive gifts, though their relationship suffers from the broader tensions surrounding Osage wealth. His exact motives remain a constant source of anxiety for his young wife.

Mr. Forrest is Willard's father and a white lawyer. The government appoints him as Nola's financial guardian, giving him control over her extensive oil wealth and allowing him to charge heavy legal fees.

China is John Hale's white girlfriend. Her public intoxication and wild behavior are largely ignored by the town, illustrating the clear double standards applied to white and Indigenous women in Watona.

Sara is Grace's sister and the legal wife of Benoit. She resides in Watona and becomes a target of the escalating violence aimed at wealthy Osage women.

Lila is an elder from the Hill Community and Grace's mother. She listens to the river's warnings about the dangers of development and originally sent her daughter to Watona to observe the townspeople.

The unnamed local sheriff of Watona oversees the questionable investigations into the Osage deaths. He dismisses early murders as alcohol-related accidents and courts Lettie while maintaining maps of oil-rich land in his office.

Louise is Belle and Moses's daughter. She struggles with alcohol use, causing frequent friction with her traditionalist mother.

Rena is Belle's young granddaughter and Nola's close friend. She explores the river and hills with Nola, offering quiet companionship during turbulent times.

Ben is a young Osage relative and classmate of Nola. He returns from an assimilationist boarding school deeply traumatized, turning to alcohol to cope with his unarticulated pain.

Ruth is Moses's sister, an Osage woman married to a white man. She remains connected to the Graycloud family despite the growing dangers targeting Indigenous women in town.

Tate is Ruth's white husband. He lives with her and interacts with the larger Graycloud family during family gatherings.

Levee is Stace Red Hawk's partner at the Bureau. He assists Stace in parsing the incoming letters from Osage country regarding the mysterious deaths.

Ballard is Stace's supervisor at the Bureau. He is highly dismissive of the Osage murders and distrusts Stace's motivations for taking the case.

Joe Billy is a local preacher and the son of an acclaimed medicine man. He uses his pulpit to speak out against the environmental and social damage inflicted on Indigenous communities by white settlers.

Floyd is Louise's white husband. He lives with her and observes the rapidly changing town of Watona alongside the Graycloud family.

Bird is a local man residing in Watona. He is briefly held in the town jail during a night of violence, drawing suspicion from other community members who question his alibi.

Walker is an Osage man targeted in John Hale's predatory life insurance scheme. His sudden and suspicious death heightens the community's fear.

Mardy is a white associate of John Hale. He listens to Hale's justifications for violence against the Osage people and participates in the local corruption.