Pushkin is a Russian farmer with the soul of a poet, who moves to Moscow following the Bolshevik Revolution. He finds contentment in simple pleasures and develops a talent for befriending people while waiting in long ration lines. His easygoing nature contrasts sharply with the political fervor of his wife. When faced with relocation to the United States, he approaches the challenge with characteristic patience.

Irina is a dedicated and industrious worker who thrives in the industrial environment of post-revolutionary Moscow. She quickly rises through the ranks at a biscuit factory to become a lead engineer. Her strong work ethic and political passion provide a sharp contrast to her husband's passive demeanor.

Timothy is an aspiring novelist who moves to New York City in the late 1990s but suffers from writer's block. To distract himself, he studies the signatures and habits of great authors. This unique skill set draws the attention of a rare bookseller, leading Timothy into the lucrative but deceptive world of literary forgery.

Peter is an opportunistic rare bookseller who operates a shop in New York City. He recognizes Timothy's talent for replicating famous authors' signatures and hires him to forge inscriptions in first editions. Peter uses the promise of wealth to manipulate Timothy into expanding their illicit enterprise.

Jerry is a political strategist stranded by a storm, whose irritation is mitigated when he meets a charismatic fellow traveler. He values responsibility and adherence to social norms, making him uncomfortable when forced into an unexpected caretaker role for a stranger. He frequently reflects on his marriage to his wife, Ellen, while handling the situation.

Smitty is a boisterous, friendly salesman from western Massachusetts who easily draws people to him. While he excels at making strangers feel comfortable, his extreme sociability masks a severe alcohol abuse disorder. His lack of restraint places a heavy burden on those around him.

John is a 60-year-old retired firm partner and widower who grew up in Minnesota playing hockey. He is Peggy's second husband. To escape the rigid expectations of his age and class, he secretly participates in a roller-skating group in Central Park under the nickname "Gloria," hiding this joyful hobby from his family out of embarrassment.

Peggy is John's wife and the mother of Nell and Susie. Having endured infidelity during her first marriage to her ex-husband Harry, she is deeply suspicious of John's secretive Saturday activities. She views marriage through a lens of strict expectations and struggles to understand deviations from traditional behavior.

Nell is a women's advocate and Peggy's daughter. She initially finds her stepfather's secret hobby amusing but becomes caught in the middle of her mother's marital crisis. She tries to approach the family conflict logically while balancing her own relationship with her husband, Jeremy.

Tommy is an ambitious father of two who recently purchased Virtuosos series tickets at Carnegie Hall to signal his rising social status. He places a high value on exclusivity and rules, becoming rigidly obsessed with enforcing concert hall decorum against a fellow patron.

Mary is Tommy's wife, who attends the concerts primarily to enjoy the music rather than to project social standing. She observes her husband's obsessive behavior with a mixture of patience and frustration, maintaining a simpler, more empathetic perspective on the actions of the people around them.

Arthur is an elderly patron who has attended the Virtuosos series for thirteen years. He secretly records the performances for his wife, who is too ill to attend in person. He views the recordings as an act of devotion, entirely disregarding the venue's strict policies against recording devices.

Percival Skinner is an older Manhattanite concerned about his dwindling finances. He belongs to a family that divided a valuable 15th-century painting by Giuseppe DiDomenico into fragments. Driven by the promise of a lucrative finder's fee, he manipulates his estranged relatives in an attempt to convince them to sell their portion of the heirloom.

Lucas is Peter and Sharon's ten-year-old son. He possesses a deep appreciation for art and history, writing essays about his family's Renaissance painting fragment. He absorbs the lessons Skinner teaches him during a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, focusing on the preservation of cultural artifacts.

Eve is an independent woman relocating from New York City to 1930s Los Angeles. She carries a facial scar from a past accident but refuses to let it diminish her confidence. Armed with sharp observational skills and an assertive disregard for polite social conventions, she takes on the role of an amateur detective to protect her friends in Hollywood.

Charlie is a retired homicide detective who recently moved to Los Angeles following the death of his wife, Betty. He struggles with his transition out of police work and tensions with his son's family. Meeting Eve rekindles his investigative instincts, pulling him into a high-stakes effort to thwart a Hollywood extortion ring.

Olivia is an actual Hollywood actress hoping to secure the role of Melanie in *Gone with the Wind*. She is initially timid and bound by the strict rules of her mother and the film studios. Under Eve's influence, she begins to break away from these expectations, though she soon finds herself the target of a vicious blackmail scheme.

Jeremiah Litsky is an opportunistic journalist who loses his career after attempting to photograph Olivia in a compromising state. Bitter and banned from studio work, he becomes the mastermind of an extortion plot. He manipulates a former photographer to target vulnerable young actresses for financial gain, viewing his victims merely as objects to exploit.

Sean Finnegan is the head of security at the Beverly Hills Hotel and a corrupt former police officer. He views money as an invisible force that justifies illegal actions. Discovering the blackmail plot against Olivia, he decides to bypass hotel loyalty to exploit the situation for his own financial benefit.

Meredith is Arthur Fein's fiercely protective daughter. She views the interruption of her father's concert recordings as an unforgivable offense, delivering a lasting curse upon the man responsible for getting her father banned from Carnegie Hall.

Wendell is a former movie studio photographer whose career ended after he made inappropriate comments to an actress. He secretly takes illicit photographs through a two-way mirror at a Beverly Hills estate. Harboring deep resentment over his ruined career, he easily falls under Litsky's influence to monetize the stolen images.