Marian Colby Chandler first came to the attention of Pine Valley when she was discovered having an affair with town bad boy Tad Martin, despite her marriage to Larry Colby the fact that Tad was her own daughter Liza’s boyfriend. Liza subsequently left town, and Marian was on her own.

In 1985, the now-widowed Marian allowed Palmer Cortlandt’s sometimes-wife Daisy to go to prison for the murder of playboy Zach Grayson, whom she herself had killed. The plot came to light, however, and Marian was sent to prison. She did the warden certain "favors", though, and her time behind bars was short. A year later, she’d fallen for the seductive but mad Dr. Jonathan Kinder, and lost all her money to him.

Marian stepped in to help daughter Liza obtain a generous divorce settlement from Adam Chandler, and plotted to bed Adam to prove his infidelity. She inadvertently slipped in with Adam’s twin brother Stuart, however, and despite initial horror at the error, soon found herself hopelessly in love with the gentle artist. When Marian was kidnapped by the evil Lee Hawkins and held prisoner at Wildwind, she nearly died, but was saved by Stuart’s love and devotion.

Marian and Stuart were married on Valentine’s Day 1999, but their happiness was not to last. In a plot by Adam to break up the marriage, she was drugged and found in bed with gigolo Paolo. Stuart, however, believed her incapable of infidelity, and their marriage stayed strong until Stuart was apparently found dead after confronting Adam about the plot. She distracted herself temporarily from her grief by monitoring the affairs of daughter Liza, granddaughter Colby and stepson Scott , but continued to mourn the loss of her beloved Stuart.  He was returned to her, just in time to prevent further tragedy, and the two live blissfully and gratefully together again.