Hai is a 19-year-old Vietnamese American man struggling with clinical depression and substance addiction following his withdrawal from college in New York. Carrying deep grief over the loss of a former lover, he avoids his mother's disappointment by lying to her about attending medical school in Boston. He actually works at a fast-casual restaurant called HomeMarket while serving as a live-in carer for an elderly woman. Taking on these daily responsibilities provides him with an unexpected sense of structure and a supportive chosen family.

Grazina is an 82-year-old Lithuanian refugee who lives alone near the Connecticut River in East Gladness. Experiencing mid-stage frontotemporal dementia, she requires regular medication and frequently slips into delusions that return her to her youth in Europe during World War II. She invites Hai to be her live-in carer in exchange for room and board, forming a surrogate mother-son dynamic that anchors them both against their respective isolation.

Sony is Hai's 18-year-old cousin who lives in a group home for neurodivergent individuals. Born with hydrocephalus, he bears a visible scar down the middle of his head from childhood surgeries. He possesses an intense, encyclopedic knowledge of American Civil War history, which he uses to mentally organize the world around him. He works diligently at the local HomeMarket franchise to save money for his incarcerated mother.

BJ, also known as Big Jean, is the Caribbean American manager of the local HomeMarket franchise. She takes immense pride in her store's high-grossing performance, treating her employees with the protective authority of a military commander. Outside of her corporate responsibilities, she creates custom entrance music and harbors a passionate dream of becoming a professional heavy metal wrestler.

Maureen is an older woman in her fifties who handles customer orders at the front counter of HomeMarket. She holds deep convictions in various global conspiracy theories, believing the earth is hollow and inhabited by lizard people. These elaborate beliefs provide her with a sense of cosmic order following the tragic childhood loss of her son, Paul, to leukemia.

Wayne is a Black man who expertly manages the meat preparation at HomeMarket. As a father to a teenage son, he possesses a quiet wisdom and can easily detect when his younger coworkers are lying or struggling. He occasionally takes on grueling side jobs, such as packing meat at a local slaughterhouse, in an attempt to earn extra money for his family.

Russia is a young, laid-back employee at HomeMarket who regularly self-medicates with cannabis. He maintains a relaxed exterior at work while privately dealing with the stress of supporting his sister, Anna, who is currently struggling through a rehabilitation program in New Hampshire.

Hai's mother is a hardworking Vietnamese immigrant who raised her son in Connecticut with high expectations for his success. Having spent twenty years trying to build a stable life, she places immense pride in Hai's supposed enrollment in a Boston medical school, entirely unaware of his drug addiction and fast-food employment.

Aunt Kim is Hai's aunt and Sony's mother, who previously moved to Florida and caused a lasting rift in the family. She is currently serving time in jail, a situation that places heavy emotional and financial burdens on her son.

Noah is Hai's former romantic partner and close friend from his teenage years. Though deceased prior to the novel's events due to a tragic drug overdose, his memory profoundly dictates Hai's current emotional state, his decision to abandon his college education, and his ongoing struggles with grief.

Lucas is Grazina's biological son, a man in his sixties who lives in an affluent gated community with his wife and children. He views his mother's progressing dementia primarily as an embarrassment and a logistical burden, aggressively pushing to sell her riverside home and move her into an assisted living facility.

Mr. Vogel is the irritable regional manager overseeing the local HomeMarket franchise. Driven entirely by corporate profits and competition with neighboring fast-food chains, he represents the constant, looming threat of job insecurity for the restaurant's dedicated working-class staff.