Lace is a mother of four living in the West Virginia hollows. Originally eager to leave her hometown for a wider world, she drops out of college after getting pregnant and returns to the mountains. She now works late shifts at the local Dairy Queen to support her family while fighting to protect her ancestral ground from the devastation of mountaintop removal mining.

Bant is Lace and Jimmy's fifteen-year-old daughter. She is a mature and perceptive teenager who shares her mother and grandmother's deep, almost spiritual connection to the Appalachian woods. She works washing paint off her skin at a local motel and frequently investigates the environmental damage on the mountain, feeling a strong obligation to protect her home.

Jimmy Make is Lace's husband and a former union coal miner who struggles to find local work after being laid off. He feels utterly defeated by the immense power of the coal companies and believes the only viable solution for his family is to move away from West Virginia. His passivity and desire to flee put him at odds with Lace's activism.

Dane is Lace and Jimmy's quiet, anxious twelve-year-old son who feels physically and emotionally different from the rest of his family. He works as a helper for an elderly neighbor and absorbs her terrifying stories about past floods and biblical doom. He processes his profound fear of the environmental destruction through internal rituals and secret collections of objects he calls "pieces of God."

Corey is Lace and Jimmy's ten-year-old son, a boy captivated by the mechanical world. Unlike his mother and older sister, he views the flooded creeks and massive mining machinery not as catastrophic events, but as thrilling playgrounds and sources of adventure. He spends his days scavenging metal treasures and scheming to ride motorized vehicles.

Mogey is a relative of Lace's who has built a life in the woods with his wife, Mary. He experiences a profound, physical spirituality when surrounded by nature, hearing a "hum" in the woods that he cannot find in a traditional church setting. The ongoing destruction of the mountains deeply disturbs his spiritual peace and brings him unsettling nightmares.

Avery, also known by his childhood nickname Bucky, is Mrs. Taylor's son who survived the catastrophic Buffalo Creek flood as a child. He successfully moved away to Cleveland and earned a college degree, but returning home leaves him feeling like a traitor and an outsider. He resents the systemic exploitation of the mountain communities and the inadequate education provided to locals.

Tommy is the youngest child of Lace and Jimmy Make. He acts as a shadow and compliant sidekick to his older brother Corey, following him through the contaminated creeks and eagerly participating in his schemes.

Mrs. Taylor is an elderly woman suffering from emphysema who lives near the Make family. A survivor of the historical Buffalo Creek disaster, she is paralyzed by the threat of new floods but absolutely refuses to leave her ancestral home, fearing the loss of her social standing.

R.L. is a young, out-of-state scab miner from Ohio working at the local Yellowroot mine. He is part of the non-union workforce imported by the coal companies, drawing resentment from locals, yet he forms a complicated attraction with Bant.

Seth is a boy around Corey's age whose family has money, implied to be earned from non-union mining work. He lives in a brick, air-conditioned house safe from the floods and owns an array of expensive toys, including a highly coveted four-wheeler.

Rabbit is an eccentric, marginalized man living along the hollow whose racial background is ambiguous. Shunned by most of the town, he collects scrap metal from the flooded creeks and possesses a unique talent for repairing broken machinery.

Loretta is Lace's coworker at the Dairy Queen and a self-educated environmental activist. She meticulously researches the chemistry, geology, and legal permits of the mining operations, helping radicalize Lace into standing up against the coal companies.

Charlie is an activist alongside Loretta who tracks the mining company's destructive permits. Originally from the ghost town of Tout, he refuses to leave the area because he refuses to let the coal companies win.

Mary is Mogey's wife, a quiet presence who lives with him in their secluded house in the woods. She shares tea with visitors when Mogey is incapacitated by his severe migraines.

Lucy Hill is a local resident and neighbor of Mrs. Taylor. She relies on Mrs. Taylor for clean water because the chemical runoff from the mining operations has severely poisoned her own well.

Hobart is the opportunistic owner of a local motel heavily populated by out-of-state scab miners. Often described as creepy, he takes advantage of the influx of non-union workers to turn a profit while his town struggles economically.

Bill Bozer is Jimmy Make's old friend who takes a job as a scab miner. Though typically opposed to non-union labor, Jimmy defends Bill's choice because Bill needs the medical benefits to care for his sick wife.

Robby is Mogey's cousin. When they were young boys, Robby and Mogey shot a buck together, an event that led to Mogey's spiritual awakening when the deer mysteriously vanished without a trace.

Tad is Avery's childhood friend. During the sudden and catastrophic Buffalo Creek flood, Avery was sleeping over at Tad's house, and the two boys had to leap from the sliding roof into the toxic black water together.