A successful actress and a single mother, Chris MacNeil is one of the novel’s central characters. She arrives in Georgetown to finish shooting a movie, but finds herself embroiled in a religious battle between good and evil. 

At first, her life seems to be idyllic. She is a famous movie star, the mother of a loving daughter, and has a full retinue of staff. Even her professional ambitions are about to be realized, as she has been asked to direct a film. But Chris’s life is far from perfect. Her relationship with her ex-husband is acrimonious and she fears for the effect this has on Regan. Her shot at directing only comes at the insistence of a male friend. Added to this, her work means that Chris does not pay attention to everything in her life: She is not aware that her daughter has been playing with a Ouija board; and her business investments are failing. 

As Regan’s situation begins to worsen, Chris drops everything and dedicates her entire life to helping her daughter: She has to give up her potential directing job, she stays by her daughter side, and she spends all her money searching for a cure. She is even willing to compromise her beliefs, abandoning her atheism.