Odilo works at "lesser" facilities which "process" unwanted people like the insane and blind. Their child, Eva dies shortly after birth. His wife Herta, does not approve of his work. He works closely with a character named "Uncle Pepi" in the experimentation rooms. In his view, they are bringing thousands of people back to life. Odilo works at Auschwitz, where the narrator sees his work as magical. He then travels through Europe to Italy, and finally back to Germany where his name is Odilo Unverdorben. His name changes to Hamilton de Souza while he lives in Portugal for a short time.
John leaves for Europe to fight in the war although in actuality, he is fleeing Europe to travel to America.
He works traumatic cases which, when viewed in reverse, are interpreted by the narrator as John hurting people. The narrator is very disturbed by John's work at the hospital. He is a womanizer and has many girlfriends, including Irene. He is a popular doctor and has many friends. John's life gets better while he is still living quietly in the country. John is living in New York and is tipped off by Nicholas Kreditor that the authorities are aware of him, so he changes his identity to Tod. The narrator has an intuitive grasp of this and also knows that life can't be altered because suicide is not possible. He has a sordid past that he is running from.
Tod seems to be a tortured man he has nightmares about doctors and babies. He works as a doctor and his actions to help people are viewed as hurtful by the narrator because people come to him well and leave sick and in pain. Again, the narrator is trying to rationalize the reverse events in the tumultuous relationship. Tod "starts" a long-term relationship with a woman named Irene, which commences with her leaving him for good. He sees Tod getting stronger and more virile as he recovers and grows noticeably younger. Most life events confuse him because he sees them occurring backwards. He comes into consciousness with Tod's death and learns to translate reverse speech. The narrator sees Tod's life progressing backwards-from death to birth. He is a bystander and cannot control what Tod says or does in any way. The narrator of the story is an entity who lives inside a man named Tod Friendly.
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