- Candy Marshall - the organizer of the group of old men, and sees herself as their protector. She was raised together by Mathu and Miss Merle and is a partial owner of the Marshall plantation.
- Mathu - Beau’s alleged killer for most of the novel, perceived as the only one willing to stand up to him. Mathu is in his 80s, has a white beard, and wears a dirty white t-shirt with green pants.
- Mr. Charlie Biggs - Beau’s true killer who admits to his crime only at the end of the novel. Originally referred simply as Charlie, after coming forward he asks to be called Mr. Biggs as a symbol of his newfound manhood.
- Sheriff Mapes - a sixty-year-old, heavy-set sheriff who uses violence while trying to interrogate the old men. Mapes had a strong friendship with Mathu, and he tries to get Fix to stay home.
- Lou Dimes - a newspaperman from Baton Rouge and Candy’s boyfriend. He stands out from the other men in his relatively-liberal behavior towards Candy, which leads Mapes to question his manhood.
- Beau Boutan - the man murdered at the start of the novel. Charlie recounts that Beau began to hit him with a stalk of cane, and when Charlie hit back, Beau pulled out his shotgun. Charlie kills him before Beau can get him.
- Fix Boutan - Beau's father. Fix is the patriarch of a poor Cajun family who wants to kill Mathu to maintain his family's honor. Fix is disheartened when Gil Boutan tells him not to do so.
- Luke Will - head of vigilante group that seeks revenge for Beau’s death when Fix won't. He has his group get drunk at a bar before going to the Marshall plantation.
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