Although the protagonist, John Converse, surfaces in the novel as the primary focus of attention, the spotlight is shared by Marge, Converse's wife, and Ray Hicks, his partner in crime. All are deracinated, complex characters: troubled, detached, and morally bankrupt. Similar to the character of Rheinhardt, the protagonist in A Hall of Mirrors (1967), Converse is self-indulgent and manipulative, hoping to survive in the modern world by the willful exploitation of others. His scheme to smuggle heroin is motivated by profit but also a perverse attraction to the exploit itself.

Seemingly destined for self-destruction, Marge represents a pathetic victim rather than an active participant in the scheme. As a drug-user, Marge is drawn to the heroin by association, but interestingly she develops a romantic attachment to the irrational and violent Hicks. A mixture of raw physical prowess and superimposed pathology, Hicks is a terrifying enigma, enticed into the crime...