Emory is a 16-year-old high school sophomore living in Mill Haven. Following a traumatic car accident, she spends her summer recovering physically while suffering from intense flashbacks. She feels invisible within her wealthy family, often suppressing her own needs to maintain peace while her parents focus on her older brother's addiction. Seeking control and validation, she keeps a hidden stash of stolen items and maintains a secret physical relationship with her neighbor.

Joey is Emory's 17-year-old brother, a talented artist who struggles with opioid and heroin addiction. After the fatal car accident, his parents send him to a rehabilitation facility in Colorado called Blue Spruce. He returns home facing strict rules, a demanding contract from his parents, and the hostility of his classmates. He attempts to maintain his sobriety while managing his parents' demands for perfection.

Gage is the Wards' next-door neighbor and a popular high school athlete. Known as a "baseball god" among his peers, he enjoys high social status at Heywood High School. He initiates a secret physical relationship with Emory but explicitly refuses to acknowledge her in public or commit to a real dating arrangement.

Abigail is Emory's mother, a successful lawyer who comes from generational wealth built on a local textile mill. She prioritizes her family's public image and relies on her money to solve problems, choosing to send Joey away to rehab rather than discuss the underlying issues. She pushes Emory to conform to a specific "perfect daughter" mold while remaining blind to her actual emotional needs.

Liza is Emory's outspoken former best friend. Their friendship ended years ago when Abigail Ward discovered Liza's parents were using drugs and forbade the girls from seeing each other. Now living with her grandmother, Liza wears overalls, cuts her hair short to protest the male gaze, and actively rebels against the high school's patriarchal social structures.

Neil is the patriarch of the Ward family and an emergency room doctor. Exhausted from his high-stress job, he regularly comes home smelling of cigarette smoke and unwinds with a drink in his chair. He takes a passive role in parenting, generally deferring to Abigail's strict methods while offering his children brief moments of quiet comfort.

Maddie is Emory and Joey's older sister, currently home for the summer from Brown University. She takes on the role of Emory's primary caregiver while their parents return to work. Maddie possesses a bohemian style and occasionally sneaks Emory pain pills when their mother restricts them, though she remains largely unaware of Emory's deeper psychological pain.

Daniel is an eccentric student at Heywood High School who dresses in blazers and scarves. He missed half of the previous school year to undergo treatment for thyroid cancer, leading to rumors about his absence. He wears scarves specifically to hide his surgical scar and finds a place among the school's outcasts.

Jeremy is Luther Leonard's younger brother and a classmate of Emory's. Like Emory, he feels invisible in his own home because his family's attention is entirely consumed by his older brother's troubles. He participates in Drama Club and forms a tight-knit friend group with the other school outcasts.

Luther is a teenager from Mill Haven who drove the Wards' car during the fatal rainstorm. He lost an eye in the accident and was sent to juvenile detention because he was carrying drugs with the intent to sell. He shares a long history of drug use with Joey Ward.

Candy is a high school student who tragically dies in the car accident following the summer party. She had asked Emory for a ride home because she had a headache. Her death casts a long shadow over the school, leaving her friends grieving and angry at the Ward family.

Lucy is a student at Heywood High School and was Candy MontClair's best friend. Grieving and furious over Candy's death, she channels her anger into bullying Emory and Joey at school, publicly shaming them for their involvement in the accident and Joey's drug use.

Mr. Stanley is the empathetic Drama Club teacher at Heywood High School. Having returned to Mill Haven to care for his sick mother after time in New York, he uses theater to help his students safely express their hidden trauma and frustrations.

Max is a high school student and one of Joey's old friends. He has his own substance abuse problems, having once passed out on his lunch tray at school. He attempts to reconnect with Joey, but Joey is forced to turn him away to adhere to his recovery rules.

Ryleigh is Gage's talkative, sixth-grade younger sister. Environmentally conscious and newly brace-free, she casually invites herself over to the Wards' property, inadvertently creating opportunities for Gage and Emory to interact.

Nana is Abigail's mother and the children's grandmother. She prefers living independently despite Abigail having designed a room for her. She provides a warm, uncritical presence for Joey and Emory.

Mr. Watson is a traditional literature teacher at Heywood High School. He finds himself caught off guard when his students rebel against his assigned reading list, demanding more diverse representation and books that relate directly to their lives.

Shadow is a counselor from the Blue Spruce rehabilitation facility in Colorado. He remains entirely offstage throughout the narrative, interacting with the characters over the phone to offer insight into the nonlinear, difficult process of addiction recovery.

Amber is a student who tutors Joey to help him catch up on his schoolwork. She represents a fresh start for him, as she does not know about his history with drugs or his time in rehab.