Molly Brinker was raised by her grandfather in a quiet and peaceful mountain cabin. Molly vaguely remembered her mother, but her grandfather had told Molly that her mother abandoned her. Molly met up with Eve Donovan one day and instructed Eve on how to get out of the valley Eve and her friends were stranded in. After Molly's grandfather died, Molly decided to venture out into the world and find this place called Salem. Upon arriving in Salem, Molly spoiled Eve's status as a heroine by saying that she gave Eve the directions to get out of the valley. With no job and no place to stay, Julie Williams offered Molly a room at her penthouse. Julie also gave Molly a job working as a waitress at Wings.

Molly befriended the bartender at Wings, Tanner Scofield, and Tanner was determined to help Molly find her long lost mom. All Molly had to go on was a wedding picture of her mother with her father torn out of it. Tanner did some checking up and learned that Molly's mother was also looking for her and she was in Salem! Molly's mother was Ginger Dawson, a waitress at the Cheatin' Heart which Molly despised. Ginger had already located Molly when she waitressing a party at Julie William's penthouse. Ginger saw the torn wedding photo of herself, but she didn't come forward out of fear. Tanner wanted to tell Molly the truth, but when he learned the danger it would place Molly in, he decided not to. Ginger told Tanner her and Molly's story.

Ginger, whose real name was Genevieve, had married Rusty Hawkins, against the wishes of her father. Ginger and her husband had one child, Molly, but Ginger's husband died unexpectedly. Molly was set to inherit the Hawkins' fortune, but Ginger's husband's father, Alston Hawkins, her husband's son from a previous relationship, Hawk, to inherit the fortune. However, Molly stood in the way. Alston threatened Ginger and Molly's lives, so Ginger went on the run. Ginger took Molly back to her father's cabin in the mountains because she knew Molly would be safe there. However, when Ginger tried to reclaim Molly, her father wouldn't let her have the child back and he chased Ginger away. Ginger knew that Alston Hawkins and his grandson Hawk were in town and if they discovered that Molly was her daughter, the Hawkins may cause harm to Molly because they'd be forced to give her the family fortune. Alston and his grandson Hawk were con-artists who traveled from town to town milking people of their money and they wouldn't allow Molly to inherit the fortune they had collected over the years. Both Ginger and Tanner decided that it was best that Molly didn't know the truth, for now.

Once the Hawkins gang was safely out of Salem, Ginger and Molly were reunited. Molly began going to school at Salem University, but was having problems with a male professor there. Molly was being sexually harassed by a Professor Gavin. Molly told this to Tanner, who recognized the name as being a professor his mother worked for a long time ago. Tanner went to Brian and his father Vern and demanded to know what happened to his mother. Brian and Vern told Tanner that Mrs. Scofield had been raped and committed suicide. Tanner put two and two together and figured out that it was Professor Gavin who raped his mother. Ginger and Tanner forced a confession out of Gavin, who was convicted and sent to jail. Molly and Tanner hooked up romantically and headed for Chicago with Molly's mom Ginger and her new boyfriend, Brian Scofield.