- Mrs. Bentley - a Protestant minister's wife
- Rev. Philip Bentley - her husband, the reserved minister
- Steve - the Catholic child temporarily adopted by the Bentleys
- Mr. Kulanich, his hard-working immigrant father, probably from Romania
- Paul Kirby - the local schoolteacher and philologist
- Judith West - a young woman who befriends the Bentleys
- Not named "Philip" - Judith West and Philip Bentley's illegitimate child
- Mrs. Finley - a leader among the women in Horizon
- George and Stanley - Mrs. Finley's brutal sons
- Mrs. Wenderby - a prominent member of the community
- Mrs. Ellingson - a friendly neighbour of Norwegian origin
- Josephine Bird - the wife of the local doctor
- Stanley Kirby - Paul's brother, at whose ranch the Bentleys stay for a short vacation
- Laura Kirby - Stanley's rancher wife
- Annie - Metis maid at ranch
- Joe Lawson - farmer in nearby village
The town of Horizon is populated by an Anglo majority, and minority groups from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Its community betrays a social stratification along ethnic lines typical of the region. At the top stratum of society there are well-off middle-class families of British origin and Protestant belief that operate their own businesses in town. At the bottom there is the immigrant underclass of unskilled railway labourers including Steve Kulanich's father. In between there are foreign-born settlers like Mr. and Mrs. Sven Ellingson, the Norwegian neighbours of the Bentleys, or country-bred people like Paul Kirby and Judith West, who have come to town for work.[1]
