Orvil is an Indigenous teenager recovering from a traumatic gunshot wound. Disillusioned and in pain, he struggles to process his trauma and begins taking prescription medication. This leads to a substance use disorder that distances him from his family. He feels disconnected from his heritage and the world around him, eventually finding a sense of connection through playing the guitar.

Jude is a survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre who is later taken as a prisoner of war to Fort Marion. He struggles with a substance use disorder after his displacement but finds stability through reading and starting a family in Oklahoma. He eventually works for the Tribal Police, a position that forces him to make impossible choices regarding his own people.

Charles is the son of Jude and Hannah. He endured severe physical and emotional abuse at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Traumatized by his past, he attempts to numb his pain with laudanum while maintaining a deep desire to write. He plans to escape Oakland with his pregnant wife, struggling to secure the funds they need to build a new life.

Pratt is a military officer who oversees Indigenous prisoners of war at Fort Marion and later founds the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. He convinces himself that forced assimilation and the erasure of Indigenous culture is a righteous act. In his later years, he is occasionally troubled by memories of his actions.

Opal is the pragmatic, protective great-aunt who raises Orvil, Loother, and Lony after their mother's passing. She initially shields the boys from their Indigenous heritage out of fear. A severe health concern and the discovery of her grandfather's writings cause her to rethink the importance of culture and storytelling for survival.

Jacquie is Opal's sister and the biological grandmother of Orvil, Loother, and Lony. After struggling with substance use disorder for years, she is newly sober. She moves in with Opal to help care for the boys and work hard to be present for her family.

Lony is the youngest of the Red Feather brothers. He is highly imaginative and deeply sensitive to his family's generational pain. He attempts to invent his own Indigenous rituals because he feels a profound lack of cultural knowledge. He desperately wants to help his family heal through these unconventional methods.

Victor is an Indigenous man who travels with Jude Star after the Sand Creek Massacre. He teaches Jude traditional songs and shows him how to build a drum. He is a practitioner of peyote rituals and serves as a vital cultural link for his community before being imprisoned at Fort Marion.

Opal is a survivor of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School who works as a servant for the Haven family in Oakland. She is deeply loyal to her husband, Charles. She carries a strong desire to pass down what fragments of her Cheyenne heritage she can remember to her unborn daughter.

Victoria is the daughter of Charles and Opal. Raised by the white family her mother worked for, she spends much of her life feeling disconnected from her true identity. She eventually receives a box of her father's writings, which she carefully preserves for her own daughters.

Loother is the middle Red Feather brother. He is direct and shy. He is highly protective of his siblings. He channels his emotions into creative writing, carefully considering the ethics of cultural appropriation as he explores poetry and rap.

Sean is an adopted teenager of multiracial heritage raised by a white family in Oakland. He struggles profoundly with his identity and a sense of belonging. This disconnection worsens when he begins misusing prescription medication and supplying it to others.

Tom and Mike Price are Sean's white, adoptive father and brother. Tom experiments with making unregulated drugs in his basement and holds ignorant views on race and ethnicity. Mike is an aggressive young man who bullies Sean and exhibits a history of violent behavior.

Jamie is Jacquie's daughter and the mother of Orvil, Loother, and Lony. She passed away from a substance use disorder, leaving her three boys to be raised by her aunt, Opal. Her memory significantly impacts her sons' fears regarding addiction and loss.

Hannah is an Irish-Catholic immigrant who spent years living with Cherokee people after her parents passed away in a fire. Devout in her Christian faith, she marries Jude Star and brings him a sense of stability. She strictly refuses to participate in Indigenous ceremonies.

Dr. Hoffman is a therapist who treats Orvil, teaching him about trauma responses and coping mechanisms. He encourages his group therapy patients to process their pain by telling their stories, believing strongly in the power of reframing trauma.

Vee is a classmate of Loother. After Loother writes her a poem, she becomes his girlfriend. She provides him with a sense of connection and an outlet for his creative writing.