The narrator and main character of the story, Eulinda is the daughter of Mama, an enslaved cook at the Pond Bluff plantation. During the narrative, she learns that her father is the master of the plantation, Hampton Kellogg. The Black man she originally believes to be her father was the husband of her mother, though he was sold and relocated to another plantation. Eulinda, who is enslaved, has two full brothers: Neddy, an older brother who runs away from the plantation to join the Union army and ends up imprisoned in the Andersonville prisoner-of-war camp; and Zeke, a younger brother who is sold without notice to another plantation after Miz Gertrude falsely accuses him of stealing a valuable ring. Eulinda also has a half-brother named Julian, a Confederate soldier who is imprisoned in a Union prisoner-of-war camp in the North. She has a half-sister about her age named Annalee who attends the Female Academy in Atlanta.

Eulinda’s relationships are the key to understanding why she is treated in certain ways by others. Hampton shares an informal, mutual closeness with Eulinda. She is often able to convince him to grant her favors, as when he rides into the prisoner-of-war camp and demands the return of Otis, Eulinda’s dog.