So basically, the gist of the entire book:
Tyrion Lannister
Plot: He’s sent to Essos by Varys and meets up with Aegon and Jon Connington. Eventually he gets separated from the bunch at a brothel in Volantis, where Jorah Mormont recognizes him and kidnaps him. Tyrion and Jorah then head over to Meereen so that Jorah can show his love and devotion to Daenerys by presenting Tyrion as a gift to her. They run into some trouble on their ship on the way to Meereen and are captured and enslaved (along with a dwarf named Penny who was one of the jousting dwarfs from A Feast for Crows). By the end of the book, they have joined the Second Sons and convinced the Second Sons to switch sides… again back to Daenerys.
Status: Still alive and probably about to attack the Yunkai.
Daenerys Targaryen
Plot: She has some trouble taming Meereen and her dragons. She gets married to some smuck, and hops on Drogon and flies away from Meereen. She then lives on the fringe of existence in Drogon’s cave. After some period of time, she realizes her people need her and starts to walk back to Meereen. Eventually Drogon decides to give her a lift and instead brings her towards the Dothraki.
Status: She runs into Khal Jhaqo while living on the down low in the Dothraki Sea. Will she pick up another Khalasar and bring them back to Meereen and crush the Yunkai?
Jon Snow
Plot: Much like Danny, he has some trouble controlling the Nights Watch. Basically he spends most of his time trying to get people (especially wildings) to reopen the abandoned forts on the Wall. He also sends people off on missions: save “Arya” from Ramsay, bring more wildings.
Status: Stabbed after he announces a plan to go North of the wall to save some wildings.
Bran Stark
Plot: Eventually reaches the Crow (Bloodraven / Brynden Rivers), and meets some of the last Children of the Forest. He begins his training to become a greenseer. Hodor, Jojen and Meerea hang around. Meerea crushes on Bran, and Jojen is kind of sick from the journey. Bran learns from Bloodraven that all the trees and animals are connected and that he can see all that the Weirwood trees have seen and will see.
Status: Being integrated into the Godswood network (think Avatar).
Quentyn Martell
Plot: Reaches Meereen in time to propose to Daenerys, but gets rejected. So he tries to tame a dragon and bring that back to Dorne instead.
Status: Dead by dragon fire.
Theon Greyjoy
Plot: After being tortured and broken following the second sack of Winterfell, he plays Ramsay’s little pet for awhile. Eventually, the Boltons bring Theon back out publicly so that he can give credibility to the fake-Arya, who Ramsay will mary. Theon walks fake-Arya down the aisle, and later on helps to free her.
Status: Still alive. In the company of Stannis and Asha.
Jon Connington
Plot: After returning from Essos and loosing Tyrion on the way, he’s begun an invasion of the Stormlands with the Golden Company to help Aegon reclaim the throne.
Status: Dying from greyscale.
Asha Greyjoy
Plot: Stuck in a wagon as a prisoner of war with Stannis’ host on the march to Winterfell.
Status: Possibly dead if Ramsay is telling the truth, but probably still alive.
Lady Melisandre
Status: Extra magical at the wall.
Arya Stark
Plot: Learning how to become a faceless man. Completes her first hit.
Status: Still alive and loosing her identity.
Jaime Lannister
Plot: Squashing rebellions.
Status: Following an (undead?) alive? Brienne to “the girls”
Cersei Lannister
Plot: Runs down the streets naked as part of the cleansing process so that the faith will release her.
Status: Still alive and will be championed by undead-Gregor Clegane
Barristan Selmy
Plot: Somewhere in Meereen trying to hold the pieces of civilization together.
Status: Partnering with some freedmen to attack the Yunkai before the Volantenes arrive.
Victarion Greyjoy
Plot: Sailing around to Meereen to ferry Danny back to the Seven Kingdoms. He picks up a priest and looses a bunch of ships.
Status: Still alive and well, about to reach Meereen just in time for Selmy’s assault on the Yunkai.
Kevan Lannister
Status: Dead. Murdered by Varys’ band of orphans.
Stannis Baratheon
Plot: Heads up North and allies himself with Jon Snow in the Nights Watch. There’s a whole lot of politiking to allow Wildings to settle in the gift and for Stannis to take up residence in an abandoned castle with the remainder of his host. By the end of the book he has rallied some hill people and Northmen to join with him on an attack on Winterfell. They get caught in the first snows of winter, which delays them in time for a Braavosi envoy to reach him with an alliance after Cersei defaulted on the Crown’s debt to Braavos. Jeyne Poole (fake-Arya) and Theon Greyjoy (Reek) are picked up by the envoy and delivered to Stannis after escaping Winterfell.
Status: Possibly dead if Ramsey Bolton is truthful. Probably freezing his ass out in the North though. Presumably, the Braavosi would have spilled the beans about the Karstarks betrayal and also given Stannis a new option to claim the throne.
Brienne of Tarth
Status: Alive? Undead? and leading Jaime to Lady Stoneheart
Young Griff (Aegon)
Plot: He runs into Tyrion, who inspires him to take a more realistic stance on how he’s going to claim the Targaryen throne back.
Status: Attacking various castles around the Stormlands and about to lay siege to Storms End.
Varys
Plot: He isn’t seen until the epilogue, but his meddling is apparent every especially in Essos. Some how Varys has the entire Targaryen lineage under his control/influence. I think that the new Aegon might be an orphan that Varys happened to find that was around the right age to pass as Aegon.
Status: Alive and in Kings Landing with a band of orphans (I assume) about to cause a whole lot of trouble.