Mary is a farm wife with a deeply compassionate and forgiving nature. She discovers their former hired hand asleep against the barn door and brings him inside to rest by the kitchen stove. She advocates for treating others with mercy and unconditional acceptance, believing that a home is something one should not have to deserve.

Warren is a pragmatic New England farmer who operates by a strict moral and financial code. He struggles to forgive individuals who break their contracts, focusing primarily on reliability and economic value. He views home as a place of familial obligation rather than unconditional love, causing friction when his former employee returns seeking shelter.

Silas is an itinerant, aging farmhand who returns to Mary and Warren's farm uninvited as winter approaches. He is deeply proud despite his indigence and declining physical state, refusing to sleep on a comfortable bed and instead sitting in a sharp-edged kitchen chair. He desires to maintain his self-respect by offering to clear the upper pasture and teach younger workers how to build a proper hay bale.

Harold is a former college student who worked on the farm four years prior and now teaches at his college. He previously clashed with Silas over the value of formal education versus practical knowledge, particularly regarding his study of Latin. He represents the modern, educated world that the older farmhand struggles to understand but desperately wants to impress.

He is a bank director who lives only thirteen miles away from Warren and Mary's farm. He represents a successful, settled life that contrasts sharply with his vagrant brother's situation. He serves as a point of contention between Warren and Mary regarding who bears the responsibility for taking in indigent family members.