Sierva is a twelve-year-old girl born into a noble family in decline. Her parents, who never loved each other, neglect her from birth, so she's raised by the family's head slave, Dominga de Adviento. Physically, she is thin and pale with "taciturn blue" (12) eyes, and "pure copper" (12) hair that reaches the ground and has been promised to the saints by Dominga. Growing up among the black slaves, she adopts their languages, customs, and habits, and has a severe mistrust of white people. Sierva moves stealthily with an almost otherworldly presence. She lies often and seems to enjoy creating chaos. Father Delaura and Martina Laborde are the only two white people whom she comes to trust.

Also born in Spain, to a peninuslare father and a criolla mother, Father Delaura arrives in Colombia with the Bishop. He has a small frame, pale skin, and a "streak of white" (56) in his black hair. Though he is a faithful priest, Delaura is drawn to secular literature, including the love poetry of Garcilaso de la Vega, a Spanish poet to whom he claims distant relation. His relationship with Sierva María exacerbates his struggle between his secular desires and his Catholic duties as a priest, though in the end, romantic love overtakes him.