Only five characters actually appear in the novella, Gigi, and one or two others receive brief mention. Gilberte Alvarez, called Gigi, dominates the work and appears in nearly every scene. She is the illegitimate daughter of Andree Alvarez, whose lover, the father of Gigi, has long since deserted her. They live with Andree's mother, Madame Inez Alvarez, whose surname she took from a now deceased lover and whose first name she adopted because of her Spanish looks. This little "family" lives in genteel poverty. The mother is something of a singer, and Madame Alvarez looks after the apartment and Gigi.

Gaston Lachaille has enormous wealth, made from the sugar industry.

The connection between such a rich and socially prominent man and these relatively obscure women is "an older Lachaille" whom Inez claims to have "known intimately." The only other character of significance (besides Liane d'Exelmans, whose repeated attempted...