1988: Dixie (played by Kari Gibson from July to September; actress Cady McClain took over in October) arrived in Pine Valley along with her brother, Will. Their reason for leaving their native Pigeon Hollow, WV behind? The sibs were searching for their late mom's wealthy uncle, Pete Cooney. Dixie got a job at Cortlandt Manor working as a maid for Palmer, unaware that he and Pete Cooney were one and the same. When Palmer was tossed behind bars for obstructing justice in the investigation into Silver Kane's death, Dixie found a new employer: Palmer's enemy, Adam Chandler, who hired her as a nanny for his stepdaughter, Laura. When Laura was tragically killed by a drunk driver, Adam and wife Brooke kept Dixie on as a maid.

1989: Dixie nursed a whopping crush on Adam, who was desperate to sire a child and saw Dixie as a way to do so. Adam wanted to impregnate Dixie, then raise the child with Brooke after it was born without Brooke ever being tipped off to its real paternity. But once Dixie was with child, Brooke caught on to Adam's infidelity and deceit (thanks in large part to private-eye Tad, whom she had commissioned to uncover the identity of the baby's father) and served him with divorce papers. In June, Adam walked down the aisle with Dixie. But what his young bride didn't realize was that Adam was up to no good, again. This time, he had a plan to make Dixie think she was going crazy so that she would voluntarily commit herself so as not to endanger her new baby boy, Adam Chandler, Jr. (now known as JR). Tad was wise to this, too, and tried to save Dixie, with whom he had fallen in love. When Adam's ploy did land Dixie in a sanitarium, Tad helped her escape. She divorced Adam and gained a fiancé in Tad (who famously popped the question while wearing a chicken suit). Palmer wasn't pleased with Dixie's choice and brought Tad's tacky mom, Opal, to town in hopes of causing the couple to split. But on December 29, Dixie became Mrs. Tad Martin (for the first time, at least).

1990: Palmer continued to make trouble for the newlyweds — so much so that Tad pushed Dixie to move out of town with him. Dixie insisted on staying put in P.V., but Palmer was relentless and the friction between Tad and Dixie worsened to the point that she served him with divorce papers. Tad, who had grown close to co-worker Brooke, turned to her for comfort and they slept together. Dixie, meanwhile, leaned on Billy Clyde Tuggle for support, unaware that he had become dangerously obsessed with her. But that fact soon became painfully obvious to her, as Billy Clyde kidnapped her and held her hostage in a remote cabin. Tad rescued Dixie, but Billy Clyde managed to escape. After this ordeal, Tad and Dixie reconciled and prepared to renew their vows. But Billy Clyde was determined to stop them. He lured Tad to a bridge that he'd rigged with a bomb. Their resulting showdown left Billy Clyde dead, and Tad presumed dead. Dixie mourned her lost love, and Brooke was devastated, too — not to mention pregnant. By Tad. As for Tad, he wasn't really dead, but he was amnesiac, and he hitched a ride out of Pine Valley, headed for California.

1991: In the wake of Tad's apparent death, Dixie suffered tremendously and her sadness deepened when she uncovered the fact that Brooke and Tad's fling had indeed resulted in a pregnancy. Dixie was consoled by Craig Lawson, a con man posing as an old pal of Tad's. She fell prey to his deception and eloped with him.