Howard is a 57-year-old white English art historian teaching at Wellington College in Massachusetts. He specializes in the works of Rembrandt and holds a fierce, decade-spanning academic feud with a rival scholar. His marriage is currently collapsing after he admitted to a brief affair with a family friend. He maintains an intellectual arrogance that isolates him from his own children.

Kiki is a 52-year-old African American hospital administrator who comes from a long line of resilient women. She inherited the large family house where the Belseys currently live. She tries to keep her family grounded while privately hurting from her husband's betrayal, finding herself increasingly exhausted by the academic bubbles her husband and daughter inhabit.

Monty is a wealthy, conservative Black academic residing in England. He maintains a bitter feud with Howard Belsey over art interpretation and campus politics. He holds strict religious and anti-affirmative action beliefs, using his public platform to aggressively push back against liberal academic standards.

Jerome is Howard and Kiki's 20-year-old eldest son, currently studying at Brown University. He spends time in England working for his father's academic nemesis. He recently converted to Christianity and frequently clashes with his secular family's worldview, seeking structure and tradition away from his parents' chaotic household.

Zora is a sophomore at Wellington College. She aggressively pursues academic success to mirror her father. She frequently involves herself in university faculty politics and attempts to force her way into an exclusive poetry class by leveraging the administration against the professor.

Levi is the youngest Belsey sibling and the only one born in the United States. He works at a corporate record store, attempting to distance himself from his privileged Wellington upbringing by associating with working-class youth from Boston. He adopts urban street slang as he searches for an authentic cultural identity.

Carlene is Monty's devoted wife. She prefers traditional gender roles and tends to live in her husband's shadow. Despite the animosity between their husbands, she reaches out to form a connection with Kiki Belsey after moving to Massachusetts.

Victoria is the exceptionally beautiful daughter of Monty and Carlene. She enrolls as a student at Wellington College, taking a class taught by Howard Belsey. She draws intense attention from those around her and frequently rebels against her father's strict expectations.

Claire is a poet and professor at Wellington College. She teaches a highly sought-after creative writing class where she controversially allows unenrolled street poets to audit. She holds a complicated position in the Belsey family's life due to her past actions with Howard.

Carl is a handsome, working-class spoken word poet and rapper from Boston. He lacks formal higher education but possesses immense natural talent, which catches the attention of the Wellington College academic community at local poetry events.

Michael is the son of Monty and Carlene. He works in business and fiercely protects his family, particularly his sister Victoria, whom he views as entirely untouchable by someone like Jerome Belsey.

Erskine is a professor of Black Studies at Wellington College. He shares Howard's intense dislike for Monty Kipps and frequently engages in departmental politics and debates.

Jack serves as the dean of the Humanities faculty at Wellington College. He mediates conflicts between professors and attempts to protect the university as a space for liberal education while managing constant faculty infighting.

Choo is a Haitian immigrant who sells counterfeit merchandise on the streets of Boston. He allows Levi to join his group of street vendors, though he remains fully aware that Levi comes from a privileged suburban background rather than the city.

Warren is Claire Malcolm's husband. He stays with her despite the exposure of her affair with Howard Belsey and frequently attends Wellington College social functions.

Harold is Howard's elderly, working-class father. He remains estranged from his son due to decades of resentment regarding Howard's college education, emigration to America, and marriage to a Black woman.