Warning: the following contains certain elements contained within, "The Clarinet on the Glacier". It does not give away much of the plotline. However, if you would like to read the book without having much revealed at all, you should leave this page now.

The story is told from the perspective of two characters, Jessica Morriston and Harris Beadlesby. Each chapter is told as if thought, spoken or observed by one of them. Accompanied on the expedition into Switzerland by Jessica's niece, Alice, there are actually no other characters who make a particularly significant appearance in the story. The human interest is driven by these three characters.

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Jessica Morriston is a professional translator with a particular penchant for Alpine hiking in Switzerland. Exactly why this should be the case is not made entirely clear but her detailed description of the Alpine scenery which she loves gives some idea. Highly intelligent, physically fit and capable of solving most challenges, she is a fairly likeable character and prepared to help out others without demanding any reward. At the same time, she does lack a sense of direction in life. Jessica is sarcastic and guilty of intellectual snobbery quite often. Although interested in charity work and (possibly) religion, her main interests besides Alpine hiking are salt ’n’ vinegar crisps and a fascination with Timothy Dalton, bordering on obsession. Timothy Dalton played James Bond in the late 1980s, in case you didn’t know. Overall, Jessica suffers from unrealized potential in life but her key quality is clear from the start to the finish: she never gives up.

Harris Beadlesby is in many ways the opposite of Jessica. Their inability to stand each other lasts throughout the book even if they manage to develop a bit more mutual respect towards the end. Harris is a music teacher in a secondary school and devoted to fine culture, notably classical music. He has virtually no common sense and at least initially, can be fairly pompous. However, he is in love with his fiancée, Isabel, for whom he makes considerable sacrifices. He also believes fully in the value of music and works to bring this benefit to the students he teaches. Compared with Jessica, he has a sense of direction and meaning in life. However, once the story reaches Switzerland, he is completely out of his depth. Nonetheless, he does save the day on two occasions in his own, admittedly odd way. Harder to like than Jessica, at least to start with, Harris does become more engaging once he manages to see the world beyond the one he knows and lectures everyone about.

Alice Morrison is the teenage daughter of Jessica’s sister, Bethany, who managed to lose the -t- in Morriston by taking her husband’s name, Morrison. This is not the reason why Jessica particularly dislikes Bethany and her brother-in-law, but it doesn’t help. Alice herself is also hardly the greatest fan of her wealthy but shallow parents, but she shows a great fondness for her aunt, who is just as fond of her. She and Jessica go on more or less unauthorized hiking holidays in Switzerland so when her piano teacher, namely Harris, needs help to reach the top of a glacier, she is the one to put them in touch. Alice is a fundamentally kind-hearted girl, with a degree of style, sassiness and sarcasm quite common in teenage girls and probably taken from her aunt as well.