May is a Chinese American former prosecutor who recently accepted a position as an assistant law professor at Fordham Law. Raised by a single mother, she is a strict rule-follower who experiences anxiety following a viral video scandal that severely damaged her public reputation. She values her long-standing friendship with Kelsey and Lauren but harbors deep insecurities about her past and her current relationship choices.

Kelsey is a wealthy woman who works for her father's real estate company. Following the unsolved murder of her husband, Luke, she faced intense online harassment, prompting her to adopt a deeply guarded lifestyle to protect her privacy. She desperately desires to start a family using frozen embryos and relies heavily on her found family of friends for emotional support.

Lauren is a former music prodigy who now serves as the first Black Music Director of the Houston Symphony. As the oldest of the friend group, she often acts as the stabilizing force and a protective older sister figure to May and Kelsey. She is confident and unapologetic, though she carefully guards the details of her long-term romantic relationship with an older married man.

Nate is Kelsey's charismatic stepbrother and a struggling actor. He shares a close, long-standing bond with his stepsister, often acting as her primary confidant since their parents' divorce. He also shares a complicated romantic history with May, and his arrival at the beach house immediately creates interpersonal tension.

Josh is May's fiancé, a sweet but sometimes demanding partner who provided her with stability during her public scandal. He strongly dislikes her friends and feels threatened by her independence, frequently pressuring her to prioritize him over her other relationships and demanding total transparency.

Carter is a local East Hampton detective investigating the sudden disappearance of David Smith. As a town native, he is highly observant of the wealthy tourists who visit the area and methodically pieces together the timeline of David's last known movements, eventually crossing paths with May and her friends.

David is a wealthy man from a New England family who goes missing shortly after arriving in the Hamptons. He is known for actively flirting with women online and has ties to the same summer camp the three friends attended years ago, making his disappearance highly suspicious.

Bill is Kelsey's wealthy, overbearing father who runs a successful real estate company. He maintains a tight grip on his daughter's life, using his immense resources to monitor and protect her while harboring deep resentment toward his former stepson, Nate.

Thomas is a wealthy Dallas oilman and the co-owner of the Wildwood camp where the main characters met. He maintains a long-running, discreet relationship with Lauren while remaining legally married to his wife for financial and social reasons.

Luke is Kelsey's deceased husband who originally opened a restaurant with financial backing from Bill. His unsolved murder during a routine bank deposit run completely upended Kelsey's life and subjected her to intense public scrutiny.

Marnie was a camper at Wildwood who drowned years ago under mysterious circumstances. Known for being highly observant and prone to gossiping, her death left a lasting, traumatic impact on the surviving campers and counselors.

Jeanie is Nate's mother and Bill's ex-wife. She was once a central, supportive figure in Kelsey's youth but now suffers from dementia, leaving her son without a reliable biological support system and isolating him further.

Christine is David Smith's girlfriend who travels with him to the Hamptons. She grows highly suspicious of his fidelity after discovering his online behavior and finding a mysterious prank note left on his car, eventually reporting his actions to the police.

Tinsley is a Rhode Island socialite, a former donor to the Wildwood camp, and David Smith's mother. She grows highly anxious when she loses contact with her son and aggressively pushes law enforcement to find him.

Danny is a New York detective who previously worked with May during her time as a prosecutor. He arrives to ask her questions about her friends' potential connection to a missing person, forcing May to carefully weigh her professional obligations against her personal loyalties.

Coral is May's mother, a first-generation Chinese immigrant who entered a brief marriage of convenience to secure citizenship and raise her daughter alone. She worked tirelessly to provide for May's elite education, instilling a strong drive for success in her daughter.