Dicey Tillerman - a thirteen-year-old girl in the novel, yet her hair cut makes her look like a boy. She seems to hold the family together, being the oldest child of her mother who is mentally sick. After her mother dropped her and her siblings in a parking lot in Rhode Island, she is willing to do anything to keep the remainder of her family together and well protected.
James Tillerman - is the twelve-year-old brother to his sister Dicey. James is the opposite of Dicey, intelligent and he takes things more serious. James often got teased in school about his family and since he wasn't able to stand up for himself, he ended up dropping out. .
Maybeth Tillerman - is the eight-year-old sister. She is very quiet and shy which is a problem in school and leads to her getting held back a grade. Though she can see people's true emotions almost instantly. .
Sammy Tillerman - is the six-year-old brother. He is very stubborn and is the mothers" favorite, which makes him very upset when his mother leaves them. .
Momma - she is the mother to all the Tillerman's. She decided never to marry, but when she was having her fourth child, the father left her. She eventually can't take the pressure raising four kids on her own and abandons them. .
* There are many other characters as the book goes along. These are brief summaries of the minor characters. *.
Aunt Cilla - lives in Bridgeport, CT, where the family was going to visit with t heir mother.
Edie & Louis - runaway couple the children met in a park. They stole their money.
Stewart & Windy - two Yale students who take the children in for the night and give them a ride the next morning to Bridgeport. .
Eunice - lives in Aunt Cilla's house because she has passed away. Would adopt the children but considers splitting them up.
Abigail Tillerman - the grandmother to the children, takes them in at the end of the book after much resistance.
Tom & Jerry - bring the children across the river by sailing, which is where Dicey finds her love for sailing.
