| Main Characters | Background | Affliction | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pelajia Patchnose | Her sons are in Toronto. Her husband is in Espanola. Her mother is dead. She works as a contractor. She is sister of Philomena, half-sister of Marie-Adele, Annie, and Emily. | She is trapped at the reserve which she has come to hate. | She is back where she started, still trapped on the reserve, although she has developed a sense of sympathy. She considers becoming the chief. |
| Philomena Moosetail |
She had an affair with a client of her boss in Toronto, and she later gave their child up for adoption without getting to see him or her. Her mother is dead. She is sister of Pelajia, half-sister of Marie-Adele, Annie, and Emily. |
Her lover got her pregnant but then left with his wife. She knows nothing of the child she bore, not even its gender. | She wins $600 from the bingo and buys the porcelain toilet bowl she has been wanting. But she too is back where she started, still trapped on the reserve. |
| Marie-Adele Starblanket | She stole Eugene from Annie, with whom she has fourteen kids. Sister of Annie - and Emily, half-sister of Pelajia and Philomena. | She has terminal cancer. She fears that Eugene's drinking will worsen after her death, and their children will be put into foster care. | She dies while the rest of the sisters are playing bingo, and dances with Nanabush. |
| Annie Cook | She has a daughter, Ellen, who lives with her boyfriend, Raymond, in Sudbury. She is sister of Marie-Adele and Emily, half-sister of Pelajia and Philomena. | She lost her love, Eugene, to her own sister, Marie- Adele. | She gets a job as a back-up singer for Fritz the Katz at Little Current and she comes closer to achieving his love. She would rather be a Jewish princess than an Indian princess. |
| Emily Dictionary | She works at a store. She left the Rez Sisters motorbike gang after her lover, Rose, killed herself by running head-on into an 18-wheeler. She is sister of Marie-Adele and Annie, half-sister of Pelajia and Philomena. | She was forced to flee and abandon her children after her abusive husband attempted to kill her with an axe. She is grieving the death of her lover, Rosie. | She comes back to her store, but is pregnant with Big Joey's baby. |
| Veronique St. Pierre | She adopted Zhaboonigan with her husband, Pierre. She is sister-in-law of the above. | She is disliked by almost everybody. Her husband, Pierre, drinks all the money away. | She gets the new stove that she has been wanting. She uses it to cook for Eugene, widower of Marie-Adele, and his children. |
| Zhaboonigan Peterson | She is mentally challenged. Her parents died in a car crash. She was then adopted by Veronique St. Pierre and her husband, Pierre. | She was sexually abused with a screwdriver by two white men. Teased by other characters. | She comes to trust Emily and learns to help Emily at her store. |
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