Richard Pine is a disgraced former surgeon and illegal drug smuggler from New York. He survives the sinking of the cruise ship Callas and washes ashore with only his clothes, a Pulsar watch, matches, and a massive stash of heroin. He harbors intense ambition and resents his working-class Italian American background, going so far as to change his surname from Pinzetti to distance himself from his roots. He uses a 1970 logbook to document his life story and justify his past choices.

Pine's father is a man of Italian descent who died of cancer. He represents the modest neighborhood background that his son fiercely rejects. His death brings relief rather than grief to his son.

Pine's mother is a critical presence in his early life. She openly objects to him changing his family name from Pinzetti to Pine. She marries a grocer shortly after her first husband passes away.

Ronnie Hanelli is a lawyer who grew up in the same modest neighborhood as Pine. He uses his legal background to help set a large-scale drug smuggling operation into motion.

An unnamed medical colleague who works alongside Pine. He reports Pine's unnecessary surgeries and illegal prescription sales to the authorities, resulting in a revoked medical license.

A grocer who marries Pine's mother shortly after his father dies. He becomes a frequent target of ethnic slurs in Pine's private diary entries.

A man who escapes the sinking vessel in a lifeboat alongside Pine. A stray rope pulls him overboard before the boat washes onto the deserted island.

An unnamed individual in Vietnam who supplies Pine with a massive quantity of heroin. Pine later hallucinates his voice while suffering on the island.