The primary characters are Caldwell and Beverly, who are each haunted by storm-related personal losses and share a historical obsession with the 1900 Galveston hurricane that destroyed Galveston, Texas, and Maywell Hope, the manager of the hotel. Caldwell was first drawn to extreme weather by a childhood memory of Hurricane Hazel, and has had storm chasing experiences that included being hit by lightning, while Beverly has been obsessed with the destructive power of cyclonic motion since her daughter was killed by being sucked into the drain of a swimming pool. Maywell, nicknamed "Bonefish", is the descendant of pirates who first populated the island, and has his own obsession with the weather as hurricanes hit on both of the only two occasions in his entire life that he has ever left the island.