The very beautiful and captivating Julie Conrad first arrived in Los Angeles, CA as the secretary of attorney George Hayes. Julie's parents were very dominating and overprotective of their daughter, but, it is possible that her parents had every reason to be that way, seeing what became of Julie's life when she arrived in Los Angeles.

Julie's first dating experience was with known criminal and artist, Joe Turino. Joe dated Julie because he had just been rejected by Marie Wallace Grant, in favor of Marie returning to her husband Dr. Dick Grant. Joe turned to Julie only for her looks, and quickly found that Julie was a very shallow person. Julie was soon discarded by Joe, for Doris Crandall. Joe told Doris the reason why he dumped Julie from his life, was because he considered her an airhead. Meanwhile, as George Hayes's secretary, Julie came in contact with the handsome and up-and-coming Mike Bauer. Mike, who had recently returned to town, was George's law clerk. With the money Mike was earning as George's law clerk, Mike was able to get an apartment of his own. Julie was soon won over by that handsome young man, Mike Bauer.

Near the end of 1962, Julie got a new roommate, Jane Fletcher. A catty, neurotic and bitter young woman, Jane was suffering from the aftereffects of a disastrous romance she had had during her nurses' training in Boston. She soon became Julie's friend and observed firsthand Julie's shameless pursuit of Mike. Mike's mother, Bert, took to Jane immediately and tried to match her up with Mike, but to her chagrin, she soon discovered that the sexy Julie was angling to become the next Mrs. Michael Bauer, and Mike was beginning to take notice.

In 1963, Mike pressured Julie into having casual sex, even though he knew she wanted to hold out for marriage. Mike's world now revolved around the law, working for George by day and studying by night, and Julie was merely a pleasant distraction. Weeks later, Julie discovered she was pregnant. After she told Mike this, he tried to weasel out of taking care of the baby and Julie, since it might ruin his chances at getting a law degree or starting a career as an attorney. In hopes of keeping this development a secret, Mike coldly told Julie that he would support her financially until the baby was born, but he fully expected her to give the child up for adoption. Julie might have gone along with his plan had it not been for Jane Fletcher. Cynical about men in general, Jane wanted everyone to know that Mike was callous and insensitive in his treatment of her friend. Jane told Paul about Julie's pregnancy, then blabbed to Bert that she was going to be a grandmother! When Bert discovered that Julie was pregnant, she started spreading the lie around Selby Flats that Julie was pregnant by Alex Bowden, until Mike set his mother straight that it was indeed him who had gotten Julie pregnant. Shocked, Bert told Mike in no uncertain terms that her grandchild was not to be given up for adoption! Recognizing that George Hayes was now a father figure to her son, Bert secured George's alliance in pressuring Mike to do the "honorable thing" and marry Julie. They were wed by a justice of the peace, and Mike did not admit to his blushing bride that he was marrying her under duress.

Afterwards, the couple moved in with Bert, who behaved like a member of the gestapo around the newlyweds, and Papa Bauer, who tried his best to mediate Bert and Mike's constant battles. Bill was still away on business, and Mike's brother, Ed, was away at medical school. Unaware that they already knew, Julie announced her pregnancy to Bert and Papa. Later, she was shattered to overhear Mike tell his ex-wife, Robin, that he only married her because of the baby! Julie drove away from the house unnoticed and was seriously injured in an automobile accident. When she awoke, she learned that she had given birth prematurely to a baby girl. Embittered by her sham of a marriage, Julie told Mike to take the baby and go. Since Mike's family had known about her pregnancy all along, Julie felt like the Bauer family joke. However, once Dr. Paul Fletcher convinced her to hold her new little girl, Julie came around and decided to give her marriage another try. In turn, she named her baby daughter Hope. However, there was little hope of saving Mike and Julie's marriage. Julie resumed her job as secretary to George, while Mike worked slavishly to complete his law education, which George had generously financed. Mike drove himself so hard that he became seriously ill with a viral infection. Instead of being sympathetic, Julie worried that Mike's illness would postpone the degree that would ensure her the privileged life of a lawyer's spouse. Bert helped out by taking care of Hope, but she became so obsessed with the child that when Bill finally returned from his business trip, she barely paid any attention to him. Hope had become Bert's entire world.

By this time in 1964, George Hayes's buddy, Alex Bowden, was at loose ends romantically and was surprised to find himself attracted to Julie, by now bored in her marriage. The two became confidants and he showered her with expensive gifts, but Alex had grown too fond of Mike to steal another woman from him. One day, Alex asked Julie what she wanted out of life, and without hesitation she replied, "A man who understands me as you do." Alex didn't take the bait. Julie left Mike and Hope and moved into an apartment, only to discover that she was pregnant once again by Mike.

At this point, Alex came to see how twisted she'd become. She tried to pass her unborn child off as Alex's, when in truth they'd never been sexually involved. Once she considered getting an abortion and a quickie divorce, Alex knew he'd had enough and threatened to tell Mike about the baby unless she told him herself. Trapped, Julie became so distraught that she had a miscarriage and tried to jump off the ledge outside her hospital room. When Alex revealed to Mike the truth about the baby, Mike blamed himself for Julie problems. Yet as far as Bill was concerned, the blame belonged with Bert for having goaded Mike into this loveless marriage. The only good news in Mike's life at this time was his graduation from law school. Paul Fletcher would soon advise the Bauers that Julie should be put into a mental institution, which the Bauers and the Conrads did do.

In February 1966, the Bauers got word that Julie had died of injuries that were possibly self-inflicted. With Bill's encouragement, Mike and Hope escaped Bert's dominance and relocated to Bay City.