JULIE JAMES: Julie is every mother's dream. She works hard, she always does what's right and she always tells the truth... until that fateful fourth of July in 1996. After the four friends accidentally knock down the man in the road, Julie and her friend Helen are the only ones who want to go to the police - although Helen soon gives up on that idea when push comes to shove - and Julie is left alone in her stand. A year later she is in college, and her grades are slipping although she does make the effort to work hard. Upon arriving home, Julie is the first to receive a threatening note (reading "I Know What You Did Last Summer!") and reacts badly... how could someone possibly know what they had done?

RAY BRONSON: Ray is the one who is driving when they run down the man on Reapers Curve - the reason he hit the man is because his concentration was knocked when Barry dropped his beer, spilling the stuff all over the car. He has no family to speak of, and is desperate that they dump the body in the ocean - he ran down the man so he is the one who would be treated most harshly by the authorities. A year after dumping the body, we find Ray working as a fisherman in Southport ("Prophecy full-filled - I've become my father" - Ray to Julie). Later in the movie, we discover that Ray had actually done some investigating himself after knocking over who they thought was David Egan - visiting David's weirdo sister to try to bring her (and himself) some comfort.

HELEN SHIVERS: Helen is your typical beauty queen (Croaker Queen, actually), easily influenced by her Jock boyfriend and determined to become an international superstar through movies ("...through art I shall serve my country" - Helen at the Croaker Queen Pageant). After knocking down the man on Reapers Curve, Helen moved away to Los Angeles in an attempt at becoming an actress - but that fell through due to the guilt and she ended up back in Southport working in her father's shop with her bitchy sister, Elsa. Her mother is never mentioned, and there is no sign of her when Helen returns home, but her father takes just about no notice of her - preferring baseball games over his daughter.

BARRY COX: Barry is an interesting character. He is a football jock, hoping to play in one of the International teams some day, and is Helen's boyfriend. He also enjoys to drink a lot. He is the reason that Ray ran over the man on July 4^th, 1996, as he dropped his beer bottle on him, and he is also the person who insisted, quite forcefully, on dumping the body in the ocean. He is the second of the group to be attacked - he is run over by his own car and ends up in Southport hospital.