Sabina
Sabina is a confused character. Born in the U.S. to relatively wealthy Colombian parents, she feels out of place in both cultures and does not have many friends to begin with: “We were foreigners, spics, in a town of blancos.” When her uncle got arrested for murdering his wife, she lost the rest of her friends when their parents told them to stay away from her family.
Sabina considers herself a late bloomer, playing with Barbies until the age of thirteen because she loved “the freedom of the Barbie world, making up stories for their skinny bodies.” As a young teenager, she notices that she would become a rather attractive young woman, but she decides to hide her feminine qualities and is not interested in boys. On the other hand, she does not get noticed when she gets older as well, and this bothers her.
As a teenager, Sabina develops anorexia but eventually, she is able to leave this phase behind. In her opinion, her parents are overprotective and her neighborhood is boring, so she socializes with men who prefer not to follow the rules of society. She travels back and forth between Colombia, New York, and Miami, going through numerous relationships with illegal immigrants and criminals, but maintains a nonchalant tone when she describes them.
Lucho
Lucho is Sabina’s first boyfriend and sets the bar for her next relationship. He is the only one who wants to be with Sabina when all her friends are leaving her. He has a Spanish name because his mom was living with an Argentinean guy when she had him, but Lucho’s father left them. Now he lives with his mother and stepfather, a wealthy doctor who does not seem to care much for him. In fact, Lucho has scars all over his arms, long welts and bruises on his back, and a big bruise on his chest, which indicates that he is beaten by the doctor.
He wears rather dirty clothes, smokes cigarettes, and is adored by other girls but he only focuses on Sabina. Since he is sixteen and she is fourteen, they are careful not to be seen together at school.
After Sabina rejects his invitation to sneak out with him, he is killed in a car accident. Which leads her to realize she did love him, for what she knew love to be. This is the first of many loves and heartbreaks she experiences.
Sabina's parents
Sabina's parents are Colombians living in New Jersey. They are relatively well off, as the father runs a successful business with his brother. However, after Sabina's uncle is arrested for the murder of his wife, her father is stressed out by the legal proceedings. Her mother misses Colombia very much, as she frequently calls home and cries when they return from a trip to their motherland. Sabina's mother feels that in the United States, they are invisible, whereas in Colombia she was somebody.
Lou
Lou is Sabina’s music teacher. After the attack on the World Trade Center, he wants Sabina to stay at his place for a while because he is worried about her living so close to Ground Zero.
He used to play with Bowie, Dylan, and the Stones. He used to live the life of a rock star, including sleeping with "a million women" and doing "every drug under the sun" until he realized that it was all for nothing because these things have nothing to do with music. Now Lou mostly records studio tracks for young bands from Brooklyn, but he says they don’t have the heart needed to live music.
Lou patiently teaches Sabina how to play the guitar even though she herself considers herself unteachable. They have sessions late at night after Lou is finished with his day job. While there is chemistry between the pair, nothing ever happens as he will never leave his wife and she stays with her boyfriend.
Diego
Sabina met Diego in Miami when she was 23. He is an illegal immigrant who considers Sabina his best friend. Even though both are practically inseparable, they do not have any sexual encounters. When Sabina goes back to New York, Diego starts dealing drugs, but they stay in touch. Eventually, Diego leaves the U.S. to invest his money in a bar in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. He fulfills his dream by buying a cottage on the beach from the bar earnings.
His chapter ends with him saying that Sabina did break his heart as he warned her. It is up to interpretation on whether this is because she did not marry him to keep him in the United States or because she slept with his cousin.
Vida
Vida, a rising star among Colombian beauty queens, came to the U.S. because her stylist promised her an even more successful career; however, after her arrival, she is taken to a brothel, where she has to work as a sex slave. The security guard there fell in love with her and helped her escape from the nightmare. Vida wants to go back to leave her boyfriend and go back to Colombia. Eventually, Vida and Sabina end the relationship with their boyfriends at the same time and leave Miami, driving all the way to Sabina’s parents in New Jersey. After hearing Vida’s story, Sabina’s parents pay for her plane ticket and send her back to her family.
