Before viewers ever met them, heiress Katarina von Leuschner and Lawrence Alamain were engaged to be married. It was a marriage set up by their parents. Katarina got cold feet and ran away. She happened to be a friend of Jennifer Horton who, when they were teens, crossed paths with the Alamains. Katarina and Jennifer switched identities on a blind date. So when Jennifer went to Lawrence, he seemed to believe she was Katarina (who had changed her name to Dr. Carly Manning). Lawrence pressed for a quick marriage in his native land and then forced himself on Jennifer. Jack Deveraux rescued Jennifer from Lawrence's clutches. Lawrence then turned his attention to Bo Brady, whom he blamed for a long-ago slight that had caused a rift between Lawrence and Carly. When Lawrence's plans went awry, he caused an earthquake that ended up killing Alamain patriarch, Leopold Alamain. A few months later, Lawrence resurfaced in Salem. When Jennifer pressed rape charges against Lawrence, he claimed he didn't remember doing anything bad. Kimberly Brady believed that Lawrence actually had a stress-related problem that caused blackouts. But she grew to suspect that he was using her, so she bugged his house and learned that he had faked his condition. Lawrence was arrested after Jack managed to get a taped confession from him. He served some time and was released. Once out, he continued his underhanded dealings with a poison virus, tried to win Kimberly back, and saved Carly's life when she got involved with drug dealers. But she was in love with Bo. Eventually Lawrence eventually rescued Carly and took her and their son, Nikki, to Europe. Vivian Alamain came to Salem from Europe with her devoted servant Ivan in 1992. She joined her underhanded businessman nephew, Lawrence who was now behind Jenco Oil. Vivian and Lawrence discovered that John Black was Forrest Alamain, Lawrence's brother. Stunned by the news, John was also shocked to discover that Vivian swindled him out of Forrest's portion of his father Leopold's inheritance. With Victor Kiriakis' help, John got his share of the fortune. While Vivian is really John's aunt, there is little love in this family. Vivian, no longer independently wealthy, wants to regain the money that allows her the luxury she loves. John Black is more concerned with regaining the woman he loves--Marlena Brady.

In the early Eighties, the blue-collar Brady family crossed social boundaries at every turn and brought new excitement to Salem. First to be introduced was police detective Roman Brady, assigned to protect Dr. Marlena Evans who had become the target of the Salem Strangler. Roman's estranged wife, Anna, and their daughter Carrie, returned to town in 1982 just in time to put a snag in Roman and Marlena's budding romance. Once divorced from Roman, Anna strengthened her ties to the powerful but criminal DiMera family. Anna eventually married, then divorced, Tony DiMera before leaving Salem to continue globetrotting. Roman and Marlena married, raised Carrie, and had twins, Samantha and Eric. Roman's parents, former sailor Shawn and more refined Caroline, turned their fish market into a pub. They raised Roman's siblings Bo, Kimberly and Kayla. Each of their brood has been involved in crime-fighting. Because of Roman's law enforcement career, he and Marlena became early DiMera targets and frequent abductees. At one point, (from late 1984-86) Roman, presumed dead, was held captive by Stefano DiMera. Roman seemed to return in 1986, but in 1991, it turned out that the man everyone, including his wife Marlena, thought to be Roman was really John Black. John was innocent of any fraud since he, to this day, does not recall his past. In fact, the little John has learned is from the clues, records and tales of others. The real Roman picked up his crime-fighting career in Salem, accepted John as a close friend and rebuilt his home life. However, when baby Belle, born in 1993, turned out to be fathered by John, Roman divorced Marlena and left Salem. Troubled sister Kimberly is an incest victim (her uncle Eric molested her) and prostitute who worked undercover for the ISA. Later, she had several mental problems including hysterical blindness and a multiple personality disorder. Still, she was a feisty crime-fighter, helping to capture the Riverfront Knifer and unravel several Kiriakis crimes. Kimberly's relationship with ISA agent Shane Donovan, a friend of her brother Roman, was always mercurial. Kimberly had a penchant for shooting people, including her brother Roman who survived after brain surgery. She had also accidentally shot her ex-husband Shane, the father of her two children, Andrew Shawn and Jeannie. Shane was paralyzed for about a year, during which time Kimberly found work in Los Angeles and a fiancee, Phillip Collier. When Kimberly returned in early 1992, she was hit by a car. This shocked Shane into taking his first steps. After he regained use of his legs, Shane went off on a daring ISA mission in Europe. Kimberly's film producer fianceé Phillip stood by her during her split personality therapy and her trial for killing a would-be attacker. However, they postponed the wedding and left Salem later the same year. Occasionally, Kimberly returns to Salem for family events, such as the recently canceled remarriage of her brother Bo to Hope. In 1986, Kayla Brady returned to Salem after healing a heart broken by commitment-fearful Chris Kostichek a few years earlier. While working at a medical clinic on the river front, Kayla met Steve "Patch" Johnson, who was an ex-Merchant Marine buddy of her brother, Bo. Kayla married Patch's brother, Jack Devereaux, out of sympathy for his illness, but very quickly learned that was a mistake. While later married to Steve, the couple had a baby girl, Stephanie Kay, who was kidnapped while Kayla was in prison, wrongly found guilty of murdering Steve s first wife, Marina Toscano. The couple retrieved their child, but Steve was murdered a short time later, in 1990. Kayla grew close to Shane Donovan while working with him, but she left for a job in Los Angeles just before Kimberly came back to town in 1992. Rebellious, motorcycle-riding Bo Brady was raised by Shawn, but it turned out that he was Caroline's son by a brief affair with Victor Kiriakis. That seemed to explain some of the instinctual tension between Shawn and Bo over the years. They eventually reconciled. Regarding Kiriakis, Bo was more interested in undoing Victor's crime dealings than being a son to him. Victor eventually disowned Bo, claiming he had already been sterile at the time of Bo's conception. Bo's love affair and eventual marriage to Hope Williams, a Horton grandchild in 1985, united blue and white collar families in a wedding event financed by a Royal Family in England. One of Bo and Hope's many crime-busting adventures, capturing the monarch-killing Dragon, earned them that reward. The couple had some ups and downs during Bo's Kiriakis association, and Hope miscarried their first child. However, the couple had a son, Shawn-Douglas in 1987 shortly before they took off for a world tour aboard their boat, Fancy Face. When they returned, Bo and Hope got caught up in a crime misadventure that took Hope from Bo, he believed, forever. In 1991, Hope appeared to go up in a fiery explosion over a vat of acid in a trap set up by Orpheus, Roman Brady s revenge seeking ex-ISA partner. After a period of mourning, Bo cautiously opened his heart to Dr. Carly Manning. However, after interference from Victor Kiriakis, who had also fallen for the attractive doctor, and Lawrence Alamain, her once betrothed and the father of her son Nikki, and the trauma of being buried alive by Vivian, Carly had enough of Salem. She opted to go to Europe with Lawrence and Nikki in 1993, leaving Bo to grow closer to Salem newcomer, Billie Reed. The love Bo shared with Billie had the same exciting chemistry as the relationship he had with Hope. But Hope was gone. Billie found a treasured place in Bo's heart as he watched her growing courage and strength when she gave up drugs, her old life of prostitution, and faced charges for killing Curtis Reed, her abusive father. With Bo's loving guidance, Billie earned her high school diploma, developed self-confidence and started her own line of cosmetics. Billie faced, and overcame, every challenge that came her way. Even when a Hope-look-alike named Gina entered their lives on the night Bo proposed marriage, Billie's love and devotion never flinched. Then it turned out that Gina was, indeed, Hope, the mother of Bo's son and his first wife. In a self-sacrificing move, Billie left Salem to clear the way for Bo to delve through his emotions, dreams and goals. As fate would have it, Billie was called back to Salem on business just as Hope and Bo planned their remarriage. On the big day, Hope found Bo with Billie and misunderstood their compromising position at the Horton cabin. The wedding was abruptly called off and mysterious Franco Kelly seems to have scored points with his anonymous employer who wants to cause Bo Brady trouble. Clearly, however, any one of the Brady family can handle that.

In late 1981, Salem resident Abe Carver was introduced as a police detective, working with his friend and Salem P.D. partner, Roman Brady. The eldest of three brothers, Abe was the first to go into law enforcement. And he was the only Carver to do it officially. Middle sibling Theo Carver was trying to figure out who killed his friend Danny Grant when he got too close to Savannah Wilder's drug trafficking. He was shot by the corrupt chief of police, Richard Cates, who was in cahoots with Savannah. Theo died in Abe's arms in 1985. A few years later, in 1987, the youngest Carver, Jonah became visible but he left Salem in 1989. When he returned in 1993, he was a medical student and delivered a baby in a taxi cab. Soon after, his own misguided attempt at crime fighting went awry. Although Jonah didn't lose his life, his vigilante activities as "The Pacifier" led to him being ousted from medical school, and also was the downfall for Lexie, Abe's wife. She was a police officer at the time and had tried to keep an eye on Jonah by joining him in his outings. Abe suffered double humiliation when Lexie was bounced from the police force. Little did he know that his wife and brother were also toying with romantic fire. Luckily, the sparks never fully ignited. Lexie went on to a medical career and eventually reunited with Abe who was made Chief of Police. Jonah was eventually able to return to a medical internship, and he became involved with Wendy, whose baby he had delivered a few years earlier. He's kept a low profile since 1996. The same year, Lexie discovered that the woman she had known as Aunt Frankie was really Celeste, international crime boss Stefano DiMera's long-time confidante. Lexie, the Carver family, and all of Salem were rocked when it turned out that Celeste was actually Lexie's mother. And Stefano is Lexie's real father! Currently, the Carvers and most others in Salem are under the mistaken impression that Stefano is dead. Eventually, his return is bound to shake up Salem.

Jack Devereaux came to Salem in 1987 suffering from Hodgkin's disease. He married Kayla Brady, but learned that she really loved Steve "Patch" Johnson. Even more shocking, Jack discovered that Steve was really his brother. In truth, Jack had been adopted and raised by corrupt politician Harper Devereaux. Harper arrived in Salem in 1987. Believing that he was helping Senator Harper fake his own death in order to investigate mysterious doings at the hospital, Patch agreed to pose as an assassin. But when Patch fired his gun, it was the Senator who was shot. Harper survived the injury and continued his underhanded deals until he snapped and became a serial killer known as "The Riverfront Knifer." He was finally apprehended just as he was about to toss Kayla and Kimberly Brady off a rooftop. About the same time, Jack discovered his biological dad, Duke Johnson, was a wife-beating, daughter-raping misfit. After falling in love with Jennifer Horton, Jack seemed to change. When their daughter, Abigail was born, Jack tried many schemes to earn money, and finally left town in 1992 when Abigail's illness was traced to toxic waste dumping. He felt responsible for allowing his dad Harper to create them years go. He also filed for divorce from Jennifer. However, since then he has come to realize that Jennifer and Abigail are the only things he really values in life. Currently, Jack is trying to find a way that he can reunite the Devereaux family as himself, Jennifer and little Abigail. But Jennifer's ex-husband, Peter Blake, also wants Jennifer back.

Presently, international crime figure Stefano DiMera is still reeling from the revelation that his former mistress and confidante, Celeste, bore him a daughter. She kept that secret from everyone for decades. Early in 1996, Lexie Carver, the wife of Salem's Chief of Police, Abe Carver, decided to find out more about her parents. In her digging about, she uncovered dead-ends and inconsistencies. Then she discovered that her Aunt Frankie/Celeste was really her mother. Although Celeste refused to tell Lexie who her father was, Lexie stumbled upon a photo Celeste had of the man. It was Stefano DiMera. After getting over the shock, Lexie hopes that evil DiMera ways are not genetic and symptoms will not pop up in her later. Meanwhile, Stefano is starting to woo her into his life with gifts of wealth (a safe deposit box filled with jewels) and power (getting Jonah Carver readmitted to medical school). She's resisted him so far, but Stefano is used to getting his way. The only other known living DiMera offspring is a deaf son named Benjy who, after his mother Ellen was found murdered, is believed to be living with his maternal grandfather somewhere in Asia. There's been no mention of him in Salem since 1988. Count Antony DiMera, Stefano's son by his late mistress, Daphne, was close to his father even though he often tried to distance himself from DiMera tactics of power and control. Tony married Kristen Blake in 1994. He died late last year after showing true DiMera colors. Tony, suffering a fatal illness, framed love rival John Black for his murder, which was revealed to be a suicide only after John was already inhaling poison fumes in the gas chamber. Currently, Stefano has been preoccupied with his "foster" children Peter and Kristen Blake. Stefano was responsible for their father's death and their mother's dementia and recent death. He raised Peter and Kristen as his own. Stefano had other children Megan Hathaway who was accidentally killed by Larry Welch; and Renee Dumonde who was killed by a bungling DiMera henchman. How many others Stefano has spawned may never really be known.

The Horton family was well noted in Salem even before Tom and Alice had their adventurous brood. Tom's father was a much-loved and respected doctor in general practice. He formed the values that guided Tom all his life. Tom was a popular athlete in high school with a love for baseball. His ability on the diamond could have made him a pro if he hadn't chosen to follow in his father's footsteps. In fact, his athletic talents served him well. After marrying his high-school sweetheart, Alice Grayson, he studied at Salem University and earned money by playing on a local minor league team. After completing his military duties, Tom became a staff physician at University Hospital in Salem and a professor of internal medicine at it's medical school. Alice, who adored her husband, stayed at home and raised five children: twins Tommy and Addie, Mickey, Bill and Marie. Tommy was presumed killed in the war but had been brainwashed and disfigured by torture and bomb blasts. He returned to Salem without his memory or familiar face, and soon he and his little sister Marie fell in love. Mercifully, his true identity was uncovered before that relationship got any more complicated than a few kisses. Marie was already unlucky in love after being jilted by one man, Tony Merritt. Shortly after, she married and then was divorced by his father, Craig Merritt. Tommy's wife, Kitty, and their daughter Sandy, came to Salem, but setting up a home didn't keep them together. Kitty died of a heart attack and Sandy left town before Tommy gave up on Salem. The Horton elder daughter, Addie, made a very smart marriage choice in wealthy banker Ben Olson. They had two children: Steve and Julie. After Ben died, Addie fell in love with and married Doug Williams, Julie's paramour, and they had a daughter, Hope. Addie survived leukemia but a short time later was killed by a car while saving Hope. Steve, raised in Europe, came to Salem a for a few years in the late '70s, but never found true love there. He left after Mary Anderson refused to marry him. Steve's sister Julie, however, won and lost love many times. Julie had a son, David Banning, by David Martin, her first love. Her star-crossed love story with Doug, however, spanned more than two decades filled with ex-spouses for each, several marriages to each other and a few crime adventures, too. Horton grand-daughter Hope Williams Brady, who was married to Bo Brady and had a son, Shawn-Douglas, united two key families in Salem. Only two members of the core Horton family reside in Salem today. Matriarch Alice who was widowed in 1994, and her lawyer-son, Mickey are, however, occasionally visited by his sister Marie and brother Bill. Mickey and Bill always shared a tremendous rivalry that was further complicated when they fell in love with the same woman, Dr. Laura Spencer. They both married her and both cheated on her. Furthermore, while newly wed to Mickey, Bill raped Laura and she bore Mike who was raised by sterile Mickey. In 1973, Mickey disappeared with amnesia and was later located, married to Maggie Simmons. Soon the truth of Mike's paternity came out after the boy was nearly killed in a farm accident. Mickey then shot Bill, but only wounded him. The whole ordeal landed Mickey in the mental hospital for a short time. Later, after Laura gave Bill a daughter, Jennifer Rose, he cheated on Laura and the affair put her already stressed emotional balance over the edge. Already having hallucinations of her dead mother, Laura attempted suicide. She was institutionalized for nearly two decades. Today, Bill rarely visits Salem. The last time he returned for little more than a month, he discovered his long-ago affair with Kate produced a son, Lucas. Mother and son had come to Salem in 1993. After many upheavals and a divorce, Mickey and Maggie remarried in 1985 and have been solid ever since. Because Mickey is sterile, Maggie had a daughter, Sarah, through artificial insemination. The sperm donor ultimately turned out to be Dr. Neil Curtis. Sarah left town in 1991. Youngest Horton, Marie, found her relationships with men go from bad to worse. She had an affair with sado-masochistic Alex Marshall in New York shortly after leaving Salem in 1968. Before becoming a nun, Marie bore a daughter and gave her up for adoption only to hunt for her later. Jessica turned up in Salem and was adopted as an adult by Alex before he knew she was his natural child. Marie left the convent and nearly married Alex. Later, she married Neil Curtis, and divorced him. Marie stays out of Salem except for rare funerals, holidays and weddings. Julie's son David had a son Scotty by Trish Clayton before they left Salem. Bill's children: Mike, Jennifer and Lucas are presently in Salem. Mike's son Jeremy remained in Israel with his mother, Robin. Jennifer married Jack Devereaux and had a daughter Abigail, but Jack left them and divorced Jennifer. He returned only after Peter Blake won Jennifer's heart. Jennifer married Peter who turned out, not only to have been raised by Stefano DiMera, but also to be very astute at the crime family's business tactics. Single Lucas is in business with his mom, Kate, and in love with his half-brother Austin's wife, Carrie Brady.

Introducing the Reeds to the Bradys and Hortons proved explosive. The Reeds first became secretly entangled with the Hortons in the late '60s. Then the Reeds had sudden impact on the Brady family in 1992, and soon after, the Hortons were jolted by the past. Billie Reed, addicted to cocaine and willing to do anything for money, soon became involved in dangerous but somewhat comical shenanigans with Jack Devereaux. When one of Billie's crime buddies asked her to stash a large amount of cash for him, Jack found the money, spent it and then had to try to replace it. Fearful for herself, Billie did her best to help him. Meanwhile, Billie s brother, street-smart Austin, tried to get a real job but got involved with a local gambling ring. Then he won a boxing match that his old buddies wanted him to throw. Just as quickly as these siblings found trouble, they found romance. Billie quickly fell for tough but tender-hearted Bo Brady who helped her get her life on a better track. They met when Billie and his niece Carrie became roommates. That's also how Austin found Carrie, and fell in love. Neither love story has been without major obstacles. Because of the boxing debacle, Carrie was hit in the face with the acid intended for Austin. That was only the first problem for these star-crossed lovers. Meanwhile, Curtis Reed, Billie and Austin's presumed-dead father, started causing trouble for several Salem residents. Bo was trying to track down the man who shot at John Black (but hit the assistant D.A.) and Billie was caught in the middle when she realized the man was Curtis. Successful career woman Kate Roberts and her over-indulged son Lucas came to town about this same time. Kate married Victor Kiriakis, unaware that her past would soon blow up and effect many people: Hortons, Bradys and Reeds. Curtis Reed had also kidnapped Stefano DiMera and when that plot failed, Curtis became desperate. He tried to blackmail a very shocked Kate who also thought that Curtis was dead. Ironically, he soon was. After abducting and drugging Billie, Curtis was fatally shot. When the murder weapon turned out to be Billie's gun, she was put on trial for the crime. During the trial, there were many dramatic revelations: Curtis had fathered Billie and Austin. Curtis had abused both his children, and had raped his daughter many times. Laura Horton, who had escaped the sanitarium which had been over-medicating her, announced to all present that Kate was Curtis' wife and her marriage to Victor was, therefore, invalid. Kate also learned that Billie and Austin were her children who Curtis told her had died shortly after he beat her and threw her out when she was pregnant with her third child in the late '60s. It was hard for Kate's son Lucas to accept Billie as his half-sister, and nearly impossible for him to think of Austin, his love rival over Carrie Brady, as his half-brother. Billie wanted nothing to do with Kate. As for who shot Curtis: Stefano did, in self-defense, and one of the DiMera henchmen framed Billie. Things became even more painful for Kate and Lucas when the truth of Lucas' paternity came out. At a press conference that should have been a shining hour for Titan Publishing owners Victor and Kate, Vivian urged Laura to reveal the biggest Reed-Horton secret of them all: Kate's son Lucas was fathered by Bill Horton during their affair just before Laura had her break down. Billie and Bo's love story seemed to survive even after a Hope-look-alike named Gina turned up. Gina turned out to be Hope, Bo's first wife, and Billie and Bo divorced in less time than it took for them to wed. After Billie left town, Bo and Hope eventually decided to remarry but Billie returned before the nuptials and, with the behind-the-scenes instigation of the mysterious Franco Kelly, caused enough friction between Bo and Hope to keep them from their vows. Last year, Austin was about to marry Carrie, but on their wedding day, Carrie's sister Sami returned to Salem and announced that she was pregnant with the groom's child. Sami's plot, with Lucas' help, to drug and bed Austin seven months earlier had worked. Sami delivered a son, Will, and Austin has since married Sami, but he is trying to get an annulment so he can finally marry Carrie. Kate, meanwhile, thought she could win Victor back by having his baby. Unable to conceive in a normal fashion, the couple went the in vitro route, but the embryo was implanted in Vivian "by mistake" after she switched petri dishes. Vivian carried the child, Phillip, to term. Presently, Kate has regained control over the Kiriakis business and household while Victor lies in a coma. The arrival of the Reed family in Salem will never be forgotten.

While Kate and Lucas Roberts are the only "Roberts" in town, all of Kate's children have each have had their own love life problems. Kate, being a doting mom, has always jumped right into the middle of each one's problems, trying to make everything right. For Billie, Kate enlisted the aid of an outsider who came to Salem with the sole intention of wooing Hope away from Billie's love, Bo. At every turn, Franco managed to wrap his charm around Hope, while manipulating her away from Bo and positioning Billie closer to her former love. That plan backfired when Billie got so close to Bo she became involved in an undercover drug investigation that put her in danger, and back on drugs. But Kate is still hoping that the recent wedding Bo and Billie were forced into will turn into the real thing. For Lucas, Kate carved a niche for him at Titan to keep the bachelor busy. But Lucas fell for his half-brother's girlfriend, Carrie. When Kate sided with Austin and Carrie, the tension rose between Kate and Lucas. Still, even the knowledge that Lucas has helped Sami in some of her underhanded dealings cannot shake Kate's devotion to her son. For Austin, Kate hoped her good advice would see him through his love woes. As the father of Sami's baby, Will, Austin became caught up in Sami's web of deceit. Even after Kate helped uncover Sami's manipulation of Austin — drugging him to get him into bed — Will remained a tenacious hold on Austin that Sami used repeatedly to keep Austin at her side. However, it was all for nought when it came out on Sami and Austin's wedding day that Lucas, not Austin, was really Will's father and catapulted Austin directly into Carrie's arms. After the baby was kidnapped and retrieved in France, Austin and Sami wed so they could return with Will to the U.S. Not long after, Austin accidentally ran down Sami with his car and she suffered a crippling back injury and amnesia. Doctor's advice indicated that an annulment of the marriage would not help the recovery. When Sami recovered her mobility and memory she kept it a secret to use to her own advantage. Kate realized Sami was faking her amnesia and threatened to blow Sami's cover, while she did what she could to help Austin and Carrie weather the storm. However, Sami has held the threat of blackmail over Kate, even after Sami's scheming lost her Austin. It seems as if Kate will never escape her past.