Stuart Chandler arrived in Pine Valley in 1984. He was kept hidden away in the west wing of brother Adam’s mansion, but was discovered and freed by Adam’s then-wife, Erica Kane. Sensitive, artistic and good-hearted, Stuart was not at all the simple-minded man he was at first supposed to be. He met Cindy Parker through her son Scott, and despite opposition from his family when they learned Cindy was HIV positive, went on to marry her and adopt Scott. The three were happy for only a short time, though, as Cindy died of AIDS the following year.

He fell in love again and proposed marriage to nurse Gloria Marsh in 1993, but she turned him down in favor of his brother.

In 1998, as part of a plot to get her daughter Liza a hefty divorce settlement from Adam, Marian Colby accidentally fell into bed with Stuart while assuming him to be Adam. At first shocked and horrified, the two quickly discovered that they had a genuine attraction, and were married a year later despite Adam’s opposition.

In 2000, Adam hired Leo DuPres to break up Stuart and Marian’s marriage, and Leo arranged for a gigolo named Paolo to be found in bed with her. Marian was drugged, and horrified when she awoke to find herself in Paolo’s bed. Stuart didn’t fall for the deception, however, and reassured Marian that she would not have been unfaithful to him. Stuart determined to get to the bottom of the plot to break up his marriage.

Liza had sent Adam to a mental institution as part of a complicated plot to take over Chandler Enterprises, and Stuart went to visit him there. Adam confessed the whole Leo/Paolo plot, and Stuart, devastated, declared that Adam was no longer his brother. Wandering aimlessly, Stuart was struck by a car driven by a drunken Arlene Vaughan (Hayley’s mother) and went missing. Everyone in Pine Valley assumed he was dead, since the charred body of a bum who had stolen Stuart’s belongings was subsequently found in the Chandler cabin. Still very much alive, but with amnesia, Stuart was discovered by Esther, a woman he had been briefly involved with a few years earlier. She took him back to her trailer and nursed him back to health, all the while maintaining that they were husband and wife. Esther had never stopped loving Stuart, and vowed to keep him away from Pine Valley and his memories, but Marilyn, a woman at the diner next to the trailer, worked to help him discover his identity.

Traveling to a fishing camp, he nearly ran into his brother, but did manage to find a vest labelled Pine Valley Sporting Goods.  He thought PV sounded familiar, and set off to return there.  Once "home", he stumbled into the Chandler mansion where Arlene, horrified to see Stuart on her doorstep (and fearing he'd ruin her marriage to Adam) locked him in the attic while she thought things over.  Unbeknownst to Arlene, though, Marian was also in the attic and the two shared a joyous reunion.  Arlene, in a fit of conscience, freed Stuart in time to coax Adam back from the brink of death after he was injured in the collapse of the Col-Mar Tower.  Stuart has forgiven Arlene and been happily reunited with the rest of his family.