Anne is a Puritan woman nearing 60 years of age living in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Educated in the English gentry, she struggles with frail health while raising eight children and maintaining a harsh frontier farm life. She is a devout Christian who privately writes poetry documenting her domestic joys, daily tragedies, and spiritual challenges.

In the Puritan framework, God is an omnipresent absolute power who controls all material events. He is viewed as the mighty architect who prepares an eternal home in Heaven for the faithful. His actions are understood as just interventions designed to correct human spiritual attachment to earthly things.

Simon is a prominent Puritan settler and a former governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He emigrates to the American colonies with his young wife in 1630 to practice their religion away from the Church of England. He works to establish their home in the challenging wilderness of the new settlements.

Thomas is an early and vocal proponent of the Puritan movement in England. He provides his daughter with a cultured upbringing, allowing her access to dense theological texts and Renaissance poetry. His guidance shapes her rigorous intellect before her emigration.