In 1980, Jennifer Smith was deeply in love with Luke Spencer. However, Luke was only dating Jennifer to get over his feelings for Laura. Laura was extremely jealous of Luke's relationship with Jennifer, and despite her jealousy, the two became engaged. However, Luke's only reason for marrying Jennifer was to acquire a contract giving him ownership of non-mob-related businesses from Jennifer's father, Frank. Jennifer and Luke's wedding, which was to be held on a yacht, turned disastrous. When Scott Baldwin learned that Luke had raped Laura, he got onto the boat and attacked Luke. When Scott angrily hit Luke, Luke fell overboard into the water. Luke was presumed dead, but in reality, he met up with Laura on a nearby dock. Luke and Laura ran off together -- leaving poor Jennifer alone.

In 1994, Luke and Laura were shocked when they ran into Jennifer and her husband, Billy "Baggs" Boggs, in Atlantic City. Jennifer clearly had never gotten over Luke because she kept flirting with him. If that weren't bad enough, Baggs was clearly attracted to Laura. However, Luke and Laura were able to get away from the duo by threatening to expose their theft charges. If these charges were ever released to the public, Jennifer would find herself in prison for many years. So, Jennifer had no choice but watch Luke go back to his life with Laura.

In 2002, Jennifer kidnapped Luke and Laura and held them captive. Jennifer threatened that if Luke didn't marry her, then Laura would die. Jennifer wanted Laura's death to be her wedding present, but Luke managed to protect Laura by telling Jennifer that it would cause Laura a lot more pain if she were to witness the ceremony. Luckily, Roy DiLucci posed as the priest performing the ceremony, and Felicia Jones posed as his wife. Thanks to the deception, Luke and Laura were able to escape Jennifer's clutches unharmed.

Several years later, Jennifer received information that Luke and Laura's son Lucky had been kidnapped. Jennifer met up with Luke and Laura in Canada and claimed that she had kidnapped Lucky and would return him unharmed after Luke spent a night in Jennifer's bed. She explained that all of her relationships had failed because she and Luke had never consummated their marriage. She reasoned that a night with Luke would provide her closure to move on. Luke reluctantly agreed to Jennifer's terms but he drank to excess and passed out instead of meeting Jennifer's demands. The next morning, Jennifer set Luke free and admitted that she did not have Lucky nor did she know the identity of his captor.