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.

John Grady Cole's closest friend and companion on the ride into Mexico. More cautious and realistic than John Grady, his loyalty is total even when it costs him dearly.

Don Hector's seventeen-year-old daughter, a beautiful girl with blue eyes and long black hair who rides a black Arabian. She attends school in Mexico City and is caught between her attraction to John Grady and her loyalty to her great-aunt's wishes.

Armando's brother and a trusted hand at the hacienda who retrieves the new stallion from Kentucky and assists John Grady with the breeding programme. He speaks no English.

A corrupt Mexican officer stationed at Encantada who interrogates and brutalizes the American boys. He is later taken hostage by John Grady during the recovery of the horses.

The hacendado of La Purisima Concepcion, a vast ranch in Coahuila. A spare, graying man of forty-seven who flies his own airplane, loves horses, and has ambitious plans to breed quarterhorses from thoroughbred stock.

Alejandra's great-aunt and godmother, a formidable, cultured woman in her seventies who lost two fingers in a childhood accident. A former schoolteacher and freethinker, she was once in love with Gustavo Madero and her worldview was shaped by the Mexican Revolution.

The powerful kingpin of the Saltillo prison, a lithe, graying man of about forty who lives in relative comfort within the prison walls. He is philosophical and speaks English well, offering protection at a price.

A lawyer in San Angelo who handles the family's legal affairs. He confirms to John Grady that his mother has full authority over the ranch and that nothing can be done to stop the sale.

A scrappy boy of about thirteen who joins John Grady and Rawlins on their ride to Mexico. He carries an old Colt Bisley pistol and rides a bay horse far too fine for his circumstances, and has a pathological terror of lightning that he claims runs in his family.

John Grady's father, a thin, sickly man and former prisoner of war who was held at Goshee during the war. He is divorced from John Grady's mother, lives in a hotel, and is slowly dying. He carries a Third Infantry Zippo lighter.

John Grady's mother, a woman in her mid-thirties who has sold the family ranch and pursues a career as a stage actress in San Antonio. She and John Grady have a strained relationship.

A county judge in Ozona, Texas, a thoughtful older man who hears John Grady's account of the horses and rules in his favour. He later receives John Grady at his home and listens to the boy's troubled conscience.

An old mozo at the hacienda with a bad leg who fought in the Mexican Revolution at Torreon, San Pedro, and Zacatecas. He tells stories around the campfire about horses and war.

The longtime Mexican housekeeper at the Cole ranch who helped raise John Grady. She is deeply saddened by the sale of the ranch.

John Grady's former girlfriend in San Angelo. She has moved on to date an older boy with a car, but encounters John Grady one last time before he leaves for Mexico.