- The central character is Joss Moody, a famous Black jazz musician. The novel begins in the wake of his death. Assigned female at birth and named Josephine Moore, Joss is transgender. He becomes a famous trumpet player and devotes his life to his passion of music. Joss is portrayed as a passionate lover, strict father, energetic friend, and dedicated artist.
- Millie Moody, a white woman, is married to Joss. As a young adult, she falls in love with Joss, and her passion is strong enough to overcome the truth about his birth-assigned gender. After his death, Millie is devastated. Although she outwardly handles herself with grace and composure, Millie's heart is broken. Millie is a loving, sympathetic character living out the cycles of grief under an unwanted spotlight.
- Coleman Moody is the adopted son of Millie and Joss. He is of mixed race. As a child, Coleman was often difficult and misbehaved. Upon his father's death, Coleman, aged 30, discovers that his father was assigned female at birth, and experiences a range of emotions including confusion, anger, embarrassment, and grief, which drives him to cooperate with a journalist, Sophie Stones, in her attempt to write Joss Moody's story.
- Edith Moore is Joss Moody's mother. She enters the novel only at the end. She is seen as she grows old in a retirement home, without knowing that Joss had been living as a male.
- Sophie Stones is a journalist who seeks to write a novel about the revelation of Joss Moody's identity, seeing it as a lucrative opportunity for her career. She expresses more overtly prejudiced and transphobic views regarding Joss's identity than others in the novel do.
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