Zofia is an 18-year-old Polish Jew who recently survived three years in various concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau and Gross-Rosen. She suffers from severe physical injuries, including frostbite that cost her three toes, and struggles with trauma-induced memory gaps that obscure her past. A talented seamstress and embroiderer, she is entirely focused on traveling across war-torn Europe to locate her younger brother, believing he is still alive.

Abek is Zofia's younger brother, who was nine years old when the Lederman family was forced into cattle cars bound for Birkenau. Zofia instructed him to pretend he was twelve to increase his chances of survival during the initial sorting. He is a playful child who occasionally wanders off, prompting Zofia to take special measures to keep him safe.

Josef is a resident at the Foehrenwald refugee camp who assists with supply runs using horse-drawn wagons. He tends to keep to himself, frequently eating alone rather than socializing with the other displaced persons. He demonstrates a hot-and-cold demeanor toward Zofia, vacillating between protective kindness and emotional distance.

Lukasz is a Polish boy, roughly twelve years old, who endures imprisonment at Auschwitz-Birkenau. He loses his entire family during the Holocaust, including an older sister whom he loved dearly. Profoundly lonely following his liberation, he longs to find a substitute family or a place where he can belong in the displaced world.

Dima is a Russian soldier who takes an interest in Zofia after her liberation. He provides her with transportation, food, money, and a bedroll, hoping a romantic connection might develop between them. He is patient and generous, though he fails to fully grasp the depth of Zofia's need to find her brother.

Breine is a young Jewish woman living in the refugee camp. She is enthusiastically planning her upcoming wedding, despite having known her fiancé for only five weeks. Having lost her previous fiancé during the war, she chooses to embrace immediate happiness and plans to eventually immigrate to Israel.

Esther is a kind young woman who wears glasses and shares a cabin with Zofia and Breine at Foehrenwald. She assists with Breine's wedding preparations and provides a supportive presence for her roommates.

Mrs. Wojcik is the Lederman family's former neighbor in Sosnowiec. She greets Zofia coldly upon her return, expressing surprise that any of the family survived. Her hostility reflects the lingering antisemitism in post-war Poland.

Gosia is the best friend of Zofia's Aunt Maja. She survived the majority of the war by hiding in a cellar. She attempts to reconnect with Zofia and helps ask around for information regarding Abek's whereabouts.

Mrs. Yost is the administrator at the Foehrenwald refugee camp. She works in an office that formerly belonged to a pharmaceutical company. She initially discourages Zofia from traveling to Dachau but eventually arranges for her transport.

Mr. Ohrmann works with the Missing Persons Bureau in Munich. He assists residents at the refugee camp by checking records and tracking down leads for displaced family members.

Sister Therese is a nun who cares for wartime orphans. She manages a facility filled with traumatized children and allows Zofia to place a missing person flyer on her crowded bulletin board.

Frau Wolfin is an older German woman who lives on a farmhouse. She and her husband have taken in a young girl named Hannelore, whose biological mother was taken away during the war.

Hannelore is a young girl living with the Wolfins. She refers to them as her stepparents because her biological mother, Inge, was taken away four years earlier. She keeps a photograph of her original mother.

Miriam is a young woman living in a different room of Zofia's cottage at Foehrenwald. She spends her days writing letters to hospitals and camps in a desperate search for her twin sister, who was subjected to medical experiments.

Chaim is a Hungarian man living at the refugee camp. He becomes engaged to Breine after knowing her for only five weeks, sharing her desire to build a new life and move to Israel.

Commander Kuznetsov is a Soviet military officer and Dima's superior. He offers practical advice to Zofia about where refugees from certain camps might have been relocated.

Rudolf is a large man at the refugee camp who makes crude and offensive remarks about Zofia and other Jewish women, prompting a violent physical altercation with Josef.

Baba Rose is Zofia's grandmother. She was an accomplished seamstress who passed her sewing and embroidery skills down to Zofia. She died during the transport to the concentration camps.

Aunt Maja is Zofia's unmarried aunt who lived with the family in Sosnowiec. She was sent to the gas chambers upon arriving at Birkenau alongside Zofia's mother.

Zofia and Abek's mother, who was sent to the left upon arriving at the Birkenau concentration camp. Zofia occasionally struggles with intrusive memories of her mother wearing specific gloves on the day they were taken from the soccer stadium.

Zofia and Abek's father. He was killed at the stadium in Sosnowiec prior to the family's transport when he attempted to intervene and help a praying pharmacist who was being abused by guards.