Ada is the 16-year-old daughter of Cypriot immigrants, born and raised in London. She speaks neither Greek nor Turkish and has never visited Cyprus. This lack of connection causes a deep sense of cultural isolation. She is frustrated by her parents' silence about their past. Grieving her mother's recent death, she is intensely curious about her family history. A sudden emotional outburst in her classroom forces her to confront the inherited pain she carries.

Kostas is a Greek Christian Cypriot who works as an evolutionary ecologist and botanist in London. He is deeply empathetic toward plants and animals. He often prefers the quiet company of trees over people. He loves his family deeply but struggles to support his daughter Ada following his wife Defne's death. In his youth, his sensitive nature and taboo romance put him at odds with the violent divisions on his island.

Defne is a Turkish Muslim Cypriot woman who falls into a forbidden romance with Kostas. She is free-spirited and brave. She willingly risks social censure for the people she loves. Later in life, she works as an archaeologist for the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus and London. Her constant exposure to other people's wartime trauma exacerbates her own unhealed emotional wounds.

Born in 1878, the Fig Tree grows in the center of The Happy Fig tavern before a cutting is smuggled to London by Kostas. The tree observes both human and natural history through a non-linear arboreal perspective. She communicates with insects, birds, and other flora. This offers a completely different lens on the island's human conflicts.

Meryam is Defne’s older sister. She is a traditional and deeply superstitious Turkish Cypriot woman. Recently divorced, she relies on her cooking, cleaning, and religious rituals to manage a lonely world. She acts as a bridge to the past for Ada. She shares the Cypriot family history that her sister kept hidden.

Yiorgos, a Greek Cypriot, and Yusuf, a Turkish Cypriot, are the warm-hearted co-owners of The Happy Fig tavern. As a secretly gay couple from opposing communities, they understand the dangers of forbidden love firsthand. They offer their bustling restaurant as a safe haven for young lovers and outcasts during the escalating 1974 conflict.

Panagiota is Kostas’s deeply religious and strict mother. Widowed when Kostas was young, she raises her three sons alone by selling homemade carob liquor. She acts fiercely to protect her children from the island's escalating violence. She eventually forces Kostas to flee to London for his own survival.

Dr. Norman is a British gynecologist practicing in Cyprus. He initially promises to help Defne safely terminate her pregnancy during the height of the island's conflict. He risks his own safety to meet her secretly at the tavern.

Michalis is Kostas’s older brother, a Marxist intellectual who vocally opposes the Greek nationalist groups on the island. His tragic murder in broad daylight pushes the family directly into the center of the island's violent political divide.

Andreas is Kostas’s younger brother. Unlike the intellectual Michalis, Andreas is a fierce idealist who becomes radicalized after his brother's murder, ultimately leaving home to join a militant nationalist group.

David is an old colleague of Kostas's who works for the UN in Cyprus. He acts as a crucial bridge for Kostas upon his return to the island, leading him directly to the excavation site where Defne is working.

Maria-Fernanda is a Spanish professional who works with exhumations in post-conflict zones. She visits Cyprus to observe the Committee on Missing Persons' work and shares stories that highlight the universal nature of wartime trauma across different borders.

Mrs. Walcott is Ada's history teacher in London. She assigns the holiday project that tasks Ada with interviewing an older relative, a homework assignment that inadvertently sets off Ada's journey to discover her family's hidden past.

Chico is a yellow-headed Amazon parrot who flew away from an American actress's home and was taken in by Yusuf. He lives in the tavern, adding to its eclectic atmosphere, but becomes deeply depressed following the sudden disappearance of his caretakers.

Zafaar is a classmate of Ada's in London. Though he is part of the class that witnesses her emotional outburst, he later sincerely apologizes, sparking a potential teenage romance and helping Ada feel more socially grounded.