Simonopio is a miraculously peaceful child with dark skin, black hair, and a cleft palate that makes speaking difficult. From infancy, he is constantly surrounded by a swarm of bees that whisper to him and teach him their ways. Adopted by the Morales family, he demonstrates a profound connection to nature and a unique spherical vision that allows him to sense past and future events.

Francisco is the blonde-headed, rambunctious son of the Morales family, born unexpectedly late in his parents' lives. As a young boy, he possesses a wild, free spirit and a deep bond with his adoptive brother Simonopio. He constantly finds himself getting dirty and skipping school, preferring the outdoors over formal education.

Beatriz is the matriarch of the Hacienda La Amistad, an upper-class European-descended landowner in northern Mexico. She diligently works to maintain traditional Catholic rituals and societal norms despite the chaos of the Mexican Revolution. Prone to anxiety, she channels her nervous energy into ceaseless sewing and fiercely protecting her household.

Francisco is the benevolent and idealistic patriarch of the Morales family, inheriting the primary estate of La Amistad as the eldest of twenty-two siblings. He attempts to manage his tenant farmers and property while worrying over the encroaching agrarian reforms of the Mexican Revolution. A pragmatic leader, he relies on patience and assumes the best of his workers.

Anselmo is a displaced laborer from southern Mexico who works as a sharecropper on the Morales estate. Carrying a lifetime of trauma and systemic abuse, he harbors deep resentment toward the wealthy landowning class. He views his position on the hacienda not as an opportunity but as another form of servitude, nursing a growing bitterness toward his employer.

Nana Reja is an elderly Indigenous woman who served as the wet nurse for generations of the local community. She spends her days sitting silently in a rocking chair, eyes closed, seemingly attuned to the hidden rhythms of the hacienda. She acts as an almost mystical fixture in the household with an uncanny sense of major events before they happen.

Carmen is the teenage daughter of the Morales family. She navigates the strict social expectations of her class while experiencing the normal anxieties of young romance. Separated from her suitor during a lengthy quarantine, she relies on her mother to help manage her courtship secrets.

Consuelo is the other daughter of Beatriz and Francisco. Like her sister, she follows the traditional path expected of upper-class Mexican women of her era, eventually marrying and starting a family in Monterrey while reacting with surprise to her mother's late-in-life pregnancy.

Antonio is a young man from a respectable family in Monterrey who aggressively courts Carmen through a flood of eighty-nine letters. He represents the formal, upper-class courtship rituals of the era, patiently following the rules set by Carmen's parents.

Lupita is a dedicated Indigenous servant taken in by Beatriz at a young age with a promise of protection. She attends local dances and maintains quiet dignity in her work. She brushes off the unwanted advances of certain laborers on the estate while harboring feelings for someone else.

Martín is a male servant on the Morales hacienda. He assists with errands, such as fetching and posting mail, and occasionally attends local dances, drawing the affection of other staff members and the cautious warnings of his employer.

Father Emigdio is the young, hasty assistant priest of the local parish in Linares. Eager for signs of divine providence, he quickly jumps to conclusions about miraculous events without verifying the facts, representing the sometimes foolish zeal of the local church leadership.

Lázaro is a local citizen who survives the terrible influenza outbreak after being mistaken for dead. His survival turns him into an accidental celebrity, with townspeople believing he visited heaven and returned with messages from the beyond.

Father Pedro is the strict replacement priest who enforces religious doctrine and social forgiveness. He oversees family blessings and hears confessions, representing the patriarchal, rule-bound nature of the church that sometimes clashes with the raw emotions of his parishioners.

Dr. Cantu is the pragmatic community physician in Linares. He provides medical reality checks to the town, whether diagnosing an infant's physical limitations or debunking rumors of miraculous resurrections during the flu pandemic.

Nico is a modern-day taxi driver tasked with transporting a very old man back to his ancestral home. He serves as a silent, captive audience for the sprawling history of the Morales family, providing a link between the past and the present.

Sinforosa is the mother of Beatriz and Carlos. She represents the older generation of upper-class Mexican society, stepping in to manage traditional affairs and offer customary guidance when her daughter faces familial hardships.

Carlos is Beatriz's brother, one of the two sons of Sinforosa. He remains local to the Linares area, marrying a local woman and starting a family that contributes to the growing clan.

Emilio is an uncle in the extensive Morales family. He assists Francisco Senior with the responsibilities of the land and steps up to lead search efforts when members of the family go missing in the wilderness.