Josette duPres lived in French Martinique with her father Andre and aunt Natalie in the late 1700's. They owned the largest sugar plantation on the island, and Josette's beauty and position must have attracted many suitors. But it was a dark and handsome man from America who won her heart. Though forced to leave him for a time to travel to Paris (perhaps to secure some of her family's holdings from the Revolution, which had just begun), upon her return she quickly accepted Barnabas Collins' proposal of marriage.
Barnabas returned to Collinsport to make preparations. Natalie and Josette's maid Angelique went ahead as well. (This was probably Natalie's idea. She probably didn't trust the Americans to make the arrangements properly.) Josette and her father came soon after, enduring an eleven-day trans-Atlantic journey marred by wind and rain. When she finally arrived at Collinwood, she was thrilled to see her aunt and Angelique, but most of her attention was reserved for Barnabas.
He showed her to her room, and she was enthralled by its beauty. She was surprised to see her own portrait over the mantle, but Barnabas had even more surprises for her. He gave her a beautiful music box as a token of his love, then told her to meet him in the gardens. Joining him there, the lovers shared a time of passion.
After, Josette returned to the house and took a bath, tended to by Angelique. She felt very satisfied and relaxed as she went to bed that night. But she had a strange and disturbing dream of making love, not to Barnabas, but to his younger brother, Jeremiah. Breakfast the next morning was uncomfortable and awkward. Josette did not understand these feelings, but they were undeniable. Unable to resist, Josette and Jeremiah ran away in the night to get married.
Traveling the post road, the couple stopped at an inn for the night. Josette wished they could let their families know they were all right, but Jeremiah convinced her they could not go back yet. Suddenly a furious Barnabas burst into their room and attacked Jeremiah. Frightened, Josette begged Barnabas to stop hurting her husband. A devastated Barnabas released his brother, and deeply hurt, he began to insult Josette. Jeremiah demanded satisfaction, and Josette watched horrified as they arranged to duel. When Barnabas left, she clung desperately to the man she loved.
The following morning, Josette attended the duel, pledging her love to Jeremiah at the start. But after the guns were fired, Jeremiah collapsed, dead. Grief-stricken, Josette turned her fury on Barnabas for killing her husband. At his funeral, she broke down beside his grave, refusing Barnabas' attempts to comfort her.
But she had not seen the last of her dead husband. That night, covered with the dirt of the grave, Jeremiah came to her room. Terrified of the zombie, she cried out, rousing the entire house. They followed as she was carried to the top of Widow's Hill. She pleaded with the apparition to let her go, but it was Barnabas who was able to talk his brother into putting her down safely before he went over the cliff to his final rest.
Deeply shaken, Josette was brought back to Collinwood in a fragile condition. Resting in Natalie's room, she still refused to see Barnabas, in spite of his part in her rescue. Then suddenly she realized that everything she had done to Barnabas was wrong. She loved him, not Jeremiah. When he came to her room, she begged his forgiveness, and he told her there was nothing to forgive. (Barnabas had discovered that Josette and Jeremiah had been under a love spell cast by the jealous Angelique. When he killed the witch, Josette was freed from its hold on her.)
Josette continued to rest and await Barnabas' return. But she sensed something was wrong, and went to the Old House. There she found him, delirious and wounded, blood streaming from his neck. Holding him and crying for help, they pledged their love for each other one last time before Barnabas died in her arms.
Anguished over Barnabas' death and the suffering caused by her maid, Josette agreed to leave Collinwood. The precious music box Barnabas had given her was the only thing she wanted to take with her. Figuring she had left it at the Old House, she went back to get it. She was confused to find it open under her portrait in her room. Closing it, she was shocked to hear her name. She turned around to see Barnabas, apparently alive and standing before her. Overjoyed, she rushed into his arms.
Yet Barnabas insisted that she stay away from him; she did not know the curse of his continued existence. She insisted that she could not leave him; her love was too strong. She begged to be able to stay with him forever. Tormented by conflicting emotions, he revealed the truth: he was a creature of the night, a vampire. But Josette did not care. To let him know how deep her love was, she offered her neck to him. As he sank his fangs into her, she moaned with pleasure and surrendered to Barnabas completely.
Josette spent most of the next day unconscious in her room at the Old House, until the others discovered her and brought her to Collinwood. She awoke at sunset, upset to find she was no longer with Barnabas. Frantic, she begged to be allowed to return to him. Thinking her delirious from the attack, her father and aunt kept a watchful vigil at her bedside.
The following night, she heard Barnabas calling to her. Natalie had fallen asleep, so Josette was able to take her wedding dress and go to him at the Old House. As she prepared to become his bride, voices and visions plagued her, revealing the truth of what her marriage to Barnabas would be. A final vision of herself as a vampire terrified her so much, that when Barnabas appeared, she fled. Blinded by fear, she ran through the woods, Barnabas chasing after her. Trapped at the top of Widow's Hill, she took the only escape open to her. Josette jumped off the cliff, dying on the rocks below.
Almost two centuries later, a young woman came to Collinwood named Victoria Winters. Amazingly, she looked exactly like Josette. It is possible that she was her reincarnation, but regardless, Vicki would have an effect on Josette's life. When Victoria was transported back to 1790, Josette met her instead of governess Phyllis Wicke. Josette was astonished at their resemblance, and the two became friends. But Victoria's odd manner and the volume of the Collins Family History she brought back with her made her a target of Abigail Collins and the witch-hunting Reverend Trask. Josette did everything she could to protect her look-alike, but she was arrested and tried as a witch. And Vicki, with her knowledge of Josette's future, did everything she could to save her from her tragic death. But the young woman from Martinique could not escape her fate. Victoria grieved for Josette duPres Collins as much as anyone else.
