A New Mexico ranch boy who crosses into Mexico three times, each journey marking a deeper loss. First to return a wolf to the mountains, then to find his brother Boyd, and finally alongside John Grady Cole on the ranch near the border. Taciturn, solitary, and haunted by everything he has witnessed and failed to prevent.

The last in a line of Texas ranchers, John Grady Cole is sixteen years old when his family's ranch is sold after his grandfather's death. A gifted horseman with an almost supernatural understanding of animals, he rides south into Mexico with his friend Lacey Rawlins in search of a life that is rapidly disappearing. He is principled, stubborn, and incapable of compromise - qualities that bring him both love and destruction.

Billy Parham's younger brother. Bold and impulsive where Billy is cautious, Boyd crosses into Mexico and acquires a near-mythic reputation among the Mexican poor. Billy spends much of The Crossing trying to find him.

A dog handler who owns bluetick and treeing walker hounds and a truck fitted with dog boxes. He assists Travis in the wild dog and lion hunts on and around Mac's ranch.

A sleek, dangerous pimp of about forty who controls the White Lake brothel in Juarez. He dresses in silk and carries a switchblade. He kills Magdalena rather than allow her to leave with John Grady, driven by a possessive obsession with her.

A younger ranch hand at Mac's ranch who teases the other cowboys and runs errands for Mr Johnson. He is observant and mouthy.

A Mexican hand at Mac's ranch who watches John Grady work with horses. He believes the best horse trainers are those whom horses cannot stay away from.

The owner of a cattle ranch near El Paso, Texas, where John Grady and Billy work. A decent, patient man whose wife died some years before, leaving him deeply bereft. The army is set to take his ranch land.

A young Mexican prostitute of no more than seventeen who works at the White Lake brothel in Juarez. She is quiet, dark-haired, and beautiful, and suffers from epileptic seizures. John Grady falls in love with her and tries to rescue her from her pimp Eduardo.

An elderly man living at Mac's ranch who shuffles into the kitchen for coffee and sugar. JC says he has been getting eccentric since his daughter died, but Billy insists there is nothing wrong with him.

A senior hand at Mac's ranch who reads the newspaper at breakfast and keeps order among the younger cowboys. He acts as a quiet authority figure on the crew.

The cook and housekeeper at Mac's ranch. She prepares breakfast for the hands each morning and is devoted to the ranch household. She is deeply grieved by John Grady's death.

A blind musician who plays at the Cafe Moderno in Juarez, accompanied by his young daughter. He befriends John Grady and serves as an intermediary and confidant in his pursuit of Magdalena.

An older cowman and neighbour who keeps hunting dogs and helps the ranch hands track wild dogs and mountain lions. He will not hunt on Sundays.

A cowhand at Mac's ranch who is Billy's friend and companion. He favours large women, tells war stories, and is a steady, good-natured presence among the hands.