Here is a list of the main characters on Pushing Daisies along with some information about them.

Ned, "The Piemaker", is the owner of a pie shop called "The Pie Hole".  He also assists private investigator Emerson Cod on his cases because he has a special gift.  He can bring dead things back to life with a single touch, but only for a minute, or else something else in proximity will die in its place.  This came in handy when his dog Digby was hit by a truck, but not so much when his mother died of a brain aneurysm.  He brought her back to life just fine, but his childhood sweetheart's father died in her place.  And then his mother was re-deadened when she kissed young Ned goodnight, never to be alive again.  Shortly after, Ned's father sent him off to a boarding school where Ned continued to figure out his powers in secret.  Being abandoned by all of those who loved him caused Ned to build up a thick wall around him, as well as a boat load of insecurities.  His comfort bubble was popped the day he came face to face with the corpse of his childhood sweetheart Chuck, and he decided that after he touched her, he would never touch her again.  Ned had to learn to let someone else into his world while also keeping her and his secret's secret still.  Further bringing Ned out of his shell was the acceptance of his brothers in his life.  Ned had found out when he was young that his father who abandoned him had started a new family, complete with new sons, without him.  He never wanted to contact his brothers, but with Chuck and Olive's help, Ned found the family he never had in Maurice and Ralston, who accepted him into their lives unconditionally. 

Charlotte "Chuck" Charles was Ned's childhood sweetheart and first kiss.  After Ned inadvertently killed her father, Chuck was raised by her two aunts Lily and Vivian.  She had a love of bees and learning, and due to her shut in lifestyle she became schooled in tons of random factoids and information.  She finally decided to get out into the world by taking a job to transport two monkey statues on a cruise ship.  She was killed on this cruise and dubbed "Lonely Tourist Charlotte Charles".  When Ned and Emerson came to investigate her murder, Ned brought her back to life, and Chuck would remain that way as long as he never touched her again.  Chuck found it extremely difficult to stay out of contact with her aunts, but she kept tabs on them through Olive and she snuck mood enhancers into pies to try and get them out of the house.  When she found out that Ned had accidentally killed her father when he was young, Chuck went into a funk and wasn't quick to forgive him.  She loved her father very much, so much so that when Ned brought him back to life to ask him about a former acquaintance, Chuck kept him alive by tricking Ned.  Her father turned out to not be the wonderful man she colored him to be, though she would never believe that.  When he left, Chuck was distraught, but realized that as long as she had Ned, she would be happy.

The pop-up book loving, knitting, private investigator Emerson Cod happened upon Ned's special gift by accident after witnessing him bringing someone back to life.  Emerson realized that actually being able to talk to murder victims would be extremely valuable in his line of work, so he struck up a deal with Ned.  The two would solve the murder cases together and split the reward money between the two of them.  Everything worked out great until Ned kept Chuck alive.  Emerson did not appreciate "Dead Girl" squirming her way into their dealings and taking a cut of the reward money.  For all of his bravado and sarcasm though, Emerson really did enjoy the company of Ned, Chuck, and he formed a special bond with his "Itty Bitty" Olive who assisted him on a few cases as well.  Emerson formed a bond with a dog trainer named Simone during one of their murder investigations, and the two kept up a strange, but working relationship over the course of the show.  One of Emerson's main goals throughout the series was to find his daughter Penny, who was taken away by his baby-mama when Penny was very little.  He wrote, and got published, a pop-up book giving instructions for his daughter to find him so that the two could reunite and be a family once again.

Olive Snook was a waitress at the Pie Hole who had a major crush on Ned.  She tried her hardest to get him to notice her, but he was not interested.  When Chuck came into Ned's life, Olive was extremely jealous and tried her hardest to figure out what was going on.  When she happened to deliver a pie to Chuck's aunts, she deduced that Chuck faked her death and had a lot of fun holding that over her nemeses' head.  After getting to know Lily and Vivian and also talking it out with Chuck, Olive decided not to tell her secret.  The two women actually became good friends despite their mutual attraction to Ned, and Olive kept Chuck updated on her aunts.  Even though Olive did not know about Ned's magic finger, she was forced to keep many secrets for everyone including the fact that Lily Charles was actually Chuck's mother.  After Lily let that one out, she sent Olive away to a nunnery where she tried to get over Ned and destress.  She ended up going back to the Pie Hole after letting out Lily's secret to Ned, and though she had tried to get her mind off of the Piemaker, she still held a torch for him.  Other men, including herbal remedy salesman Alfredo and taxidermist Randy, tried to get close to her, but it wasn't until Ned and Olive had to pretend to be engaged that Olive finally decided it would never work out between them, as he would never love her the way he loved Chuck.  She started up a relationship with Randy, and the two seemed to be headed for a bright future. 

Lily Charles, who has worn an eyepatch since an unfortunate kitty litter accident, is Chuck's mother, though Chuck grew up thinking that Lily was her aunt.  Lily slept with her sister Vivian's fiance, Charles Charles, but kept the act and the resulting child a secret from her sister.  Lily went off to a nunnery for nine months under the lie that she was at a cheese convention in Europe.  After giving birth to Chuck, she gave the child to Charles to raise as his own.  Vivian was still heartbroken over the betrayal of her fiance, but didn't have to know her sister betrayed her as well.  The two sisters were a successful synchronized swimming duo known as the Darling Mermaid Darlings in the past, but had become shut ins in later years.  When their "niece" Charlotte was murdered, the two took it very hard, especially Lily who had actually lost a daughter.  Lily always tried to keep her emotions in check and protect those she loved, especially her sister, through whatever means necessary.  Whether it was proving her proficiency with a shotgun, verbally assaulting those she did not like, or shipping Olive off to a nunnery, Lily did whatever she had to to keep her secrets and save unnecessary heartache to her hole in her heart sister.

Vivian Charles is Lily's younger sister who was born with a hole in her heart.  She was engaged to Charles Charles until a child came between them, a child that she did not realize was her own sister's daughter.  Vivian is the more sensitive sister who let's everything get to her, and every emotion reads perfectly clear on her face.  She tried her hardest to help Lily through her depression over losing Charlotte.  When Olive entered their lives, Vivian became fast friends with her and used her as a shoulder to lean on many times.  She fell in love with Dwight Dixon, an old acquaintance of Charles', when he came to town, and couldn't understand Lily's strong desire to keep them apart.  Dwight was a bad man who ended up being killed by Ned's pesky proximity rule, but Vivian could not see the bad in him.  She hired a team of Norwegian private investigators to find Dwight for her, after Emerson rudely turned her down, and they ruled that it was an accidental death by natural causes.  When Vivian finally found out the truth about Lily and Charles, she was extremely angry, but didn't have much time to stew over it as Charlotte showed up on their doorstep.