The Carrolls

Louisa Carroll: owner of the Vineyards Inn, Louisa has never married. It hasn't been for lack of suitors in her life. Her passion is her work, and opening the inn in Ontario's wine country is a dream come true for her. Only the dreams have become more suspicious of late.

Suzanne Carroll : Louisa's younger sister, who has been hired on as housekeeper at The Vineyards. Louisa needed a housekeeper, and Suzanne needed a job and a place to live. Problem is, Suzanne is terribly allergic to dust and she's not so allergic to secrets.

Blaine Carroll: youngest sibling of the Carroll clan. Blaine's ambition is to become a great chef, and gets his start at the Vineyards. (think of him as an Emeril Lagasse wannabe) Once rejected from the Cordon Bleu, Blaine studied with Stephane and Thérèse Armand at their culinary school, La Cuisine Armand. Louisa wants things done her way, but Blaine does it his way...completely different.

The MacPhersons

Seth MacPherson: patriarch of the MacPherson family. Retired college professor who now owns MacPherson Winery. Though his wife, Margaret, is deceased, he has loved Louisa Carroll all along, though Louisa doesn't know it.

Patrick MacPherson: older son, manages the winery. The grief over losing his mother drives him over the edge. He had dated Noelle Armand until Canada Day (debut episode), when something goes wrong.

Ryan MacPherson: younger son of Seth and Margaret. 3rd year med student, he wants to specialise in emergency medicine. On his ER rotation, he discovers Noelle in the hospital…but she isn’t there to work!

La Famille Armand (The Armand Family)

Stephane Armand:  chef/owner of La Cuisine Armand, famed culinary school, based in Claypool. Stephane and Ryan MacPherson provide the strength for Noelle after the Parliament Hill incident.

Thérèse Armand: Stephane’s wife, cooks and teaches at La Cuisine Armand. An intensely devout woman, Thérèse is also fiercely loyal to her family and intensely protective of her children and her students at the school.

Noelle Armand:  A second year medical student, Noelle aspires to become a pediatrician. She is involved with PatrickMacPherson, though the relationship takes a turn for the worse after Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Pierre Armand:  Noelle's older brother. Though Stephane and Thérèse would have liked Pierre to become part of La Cuisine Armand, he becomes a mineral geologist. Later he becomes involved with Tricon International, a mining conglomerate based in Toronto. His work with Tricon begins in northern Ontario, later taking him to diamond mining in South Africa.

Others (Les Autres)

Dr. Maria Escalante: The no-nonsense head of the trauma unit at University Hospital, she supervises Ryan MacPherson and Noelle Armand during their ER rotations. Though born in Canada, her parents came from Spain to seek refuge from Generalissimo Franco's tyrannical rule.

The Setting (La Place)

The fictional town of Claypool, Ontario provides a scenic backdrop for the lives and the loves of the characters in Northern Lights. Situated between Toronto and Ottawa along Canadian highway 401, Claypool's claims to fame are its tourism and its fabled wines. The MacPherson winery and Louisa Carroll's country inn contribute to the drama Northern Lights hopes to achieve. Of course, with both large cities nearby, there is plenty of drama there, too.