Eilish is a microbiologist and mother of four living a routine middle-class life in Dublin. Accustomed to a predictable world governed by scientific facts, she scrambles to maintain household stability after the government suddenly suspends civil liberties. She reluctantly takes on the burden of sole provider and protector, resisting the new authoritarian culture while trying to shield her children from the escalating street violence.

Larry is a dedicated teacher's union representative and an involved father. He organizes peaceful protests to negotiate better teacher pay, a routine professional duty that quickly becomes dangerous under the new Emergency Powers Act. He refuses to sign a false confession of sedition, standing firmly by his ethical principles despite the extreme risk to his own freedom.

Mark is Eilish and Larry's eldest child, a teenager whose plans to study medicine are abruptly halted by mandatory state conscription. Outraged by the government's violence against peaceful civilian protestors, he quickly sheds his childhood innocence. He rejects his mother's demands to stay hidden indoors and decides to take an active stance against the regime.

Molly is the fourteen-year-old daughter of the Stack family. She internalizes the stress of her father's disappearance by dropping out of local sports and physically wasting away as she stops eating. She tracks the passing time by tying white ribbons to a tree branch in their garden to ensure her father is never forgotten.

Bailey is the twelve-year-old middle son who lacks the emotional maturity to process his family's fracture. He reacts to the extreme stress with temper tantrums and chronic bed-wetting. His inability to understand the harsh political reality makes him highly vulnerable to the collapsing society around him.

Ben is an infant of only a few months old when the political crisis begins. Oblivious to the danger surrounding him, his basic needs for food and constant physical care force the rest of the family to maintain a domestic routine regardless of the warfare outside.

Simon is Eilish's elderly father who lives alone in a different part of Dublin. He recognizes the true danger of the political shift early on, though his credibility is undermined by his developing dementia. He frequently forgets that his wife has passed away, adding an extra layer of caregiving stress to his daughter's life.

Carole is a friend of Eilish and the wife of a disappeared union representative. The prolonged silence regarding her husband's whereabouts pushes her into a severe mental health crisis. She becomes convinced that the state intentionally uses uncertainty to break civilian resistance.

Stamp is an officer for the Garda National Services Bureau. He operates under the newly established Emergency Powers Act, pressuring union leaders to sign false confessions. He views constitutional rights as theoretical privileges that the state can revoke whenever convenient.

Jim is a union representative working alongside Larry. His sudden detention by the secret police serves as an early warning of the government's new authoritarian tactics against organized labor.

Paul is a laboratory manager explicitly aligned with the National Alliance Party. He strictly adheres to the new government's ideology, actively marginalizing employees who show any signs of anti-regime sentiment.

Áine is Eilish's sister, safely removed from the violence in Ireland. She uses her financial resources to hire underground operatives, desperately trying to arrange an extraction for her family members trapped in Dublin.

Maeve is an operative working for an underground smuggling network. She coordinates illicit border crossings and warns civilians that the rebel army's temporary victories will not hold back the state forces forever.