Characters:

All the Pretty Horses begins with the 1949 funeral of John Grady Cole's grandfather. With his death, John Grady's mother will sell their Texas ranch and move away. There is nothing left in Texas for John Grady, who loves the ranch and idealizes the cowboy's way of life. Only sixteen years old, John Grady runs away from home with his friend Rawlins. On horseback, they head toward the Mexican border, leading the idyllic, storybook life of …

…Encantada, he forces the charro to show him where he has hidden the American horses. Armondo - The foreman on Don Hector's ranch. Maria - The kind, quiet cook at Don Hector's ranch. Though she never says so explicitly, she seems deeply sympathetic toward John Grady Cole. Louisa - Louisa is the cook at the Grady ranch where John Grady Cole grew up. She raised Cole when his mother ran away and went to California.