Charity is an approximately 19-year-old young woman residing in the small town of North Dormer. Originally brought down from the impoverished settlement known as the Mountain as a child, she works as the part-time custodian of the local Honorius Hatchard Memorial Library. Shrewd, restless, and cynical, she desperately desires to earn enough money to escape her rural environment while struggling with feelings of social inferiority.

Mr. Royall is an aging lawyer who serves as Charity's guardian after adopting her from the Mountain years ago. Though he enjoys a degree of prestige as North Dormer's only legal professional, his actual practice is sparse, and he spends much of his time chatting at the local store. His position as a father figure is severely compromised by his loneliness, heavy drinking, and inappropriate romantic fixation on his young ward.

Lucius Harney is a handsome, educated young architect visiting North Dormer from New York City. Boarding with his elderly cousin, he spends his days sketching historically significant houses in the surrounding countryside. His arrival introduces Charity to the privileges of the urban elite, and his polite manners blur the strict social boundaries of the era.

Miss Hatchard is an elderly spinster and the great-niece of the founder of the North Dormer library. Protected by inherited wealth, she views herself as the town's cultural custodian and oversees the library where Charity works. She represents the insulated, highly traditional attitudes of the village's older generation.

Ally is an industrious, decent young woman who works as an independent seamstress in North Dormer. She represents the respectable, hardworking standard of small-town life that contrasts with both the elite city visitors and the impoverished residents of the Mountain.

Julia is Ally's sister and a former resident of North Dormer who now lives in the city of Nettleton. She is considered a fallen woman by the village gossips after experiencing an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, serving as a social cautionary tale for the young women of her former home.

Annabelle is an educated, privileged young woman from the city of Springfield. Though she rarely appears in person during the early story, she exists as a constant presence in Charity's mind, embodying the poise, wealth, and social acceptability that Charity feels she lacks.

Verena is an elderly, deaf widow hired to perform housework and reside in the attic of the Royall home. Described as somewhat doddering, she serves primarily as a chaperone figure for the household, providing Charity with a necessary domestic buffer against her guardian.

Liff is a rough-mannered young man who originally comes from the Mountain, the impoverished settlement where Charity was born. He serves as an intermediary between the residents of North Dormer and the insular outlaw community, possessing a deep familiarity with the backwoods terrain.

Bash is a resident of the Mountain and a relative of Liff. He lives in a squalid, dilapidated old house and struggles with severe alcoholism, representing the bleak living conditions that characterize the isolated outlaw settlement.

Dr. Merkle is a physician operating out of the neighboring city of Nettleton. She possesses a grim reputation among the young women of North Dormer due to her association with illicit medical procedures and highly unethical business practices.

Mr. Miles is the local minister who attends to the spiritual needs of the surrounding communities. He occasionally travels to the Mountain when summoned for official duties, acting as one of the few institutional links between the town and the isolated outlaws.