Abigail Williams came to Oakdale in search of her biological parents, Holden Snyder and Molly Conlan. When Abigail's' adoptive mother, Diana, arranged for Abigail to meet her parents, the girl was instantly drawn to her biological family and when her adoptive family moved to Saudi Arabia she was given permission to stay with her biological father.

Soon after arriving in Oakdale, Abigail met Chris Hughes and they started dating. Though Abigail wanted to date Chris openly, Chris convinced her to keep their relationship a secret from her parents. Abigail's relationship with Chris didn't stay secret for long, though. At first, Abigail's family was very approving of Chris and gave them permission to date. That changed however, when the truth about Chris and Molly came out. Holden forbade Chris from seeing Abigail and Abby was shocked when she discovered the reason: Chris and Molly had been lovers. Sickened by this revelation, she decided that she never wanted to see Chris ever again. Not only did she reject Chris, but also Molly. During an argument with Abigail, Molly lost her footing and took a nasty fall. Feeling guilty about her part in Molly's accident, and still disgusted about the affair, Abigail decided to leave Oakdale. On the layover in New York City, a heartbroken Abigail impulsively decided to stay in the States but lied to everyone about where she was staying. Alone and scared in New York she found a friend in another runaway named Bryant Montgomery. After a short adventure in New York with Bryant, Abigail was found by Holden and Lucinda and persuaded to return to Oakdale.

After a few years of a normal teenaged existence, Abigail grew close to Nick Scudder, an old high school friend of Molly's. Though her parents and her boyfriend, Adam Munson, were initially wary of Nick, she immediately trusted him and soon developed a crush on the older man. Despite his claims that he was too old to spend time with her, Abby continued to see him and confide in him. Then suddenly Abigail learned Adam had cheated on her. Despondent, she turned to Nick for help. The pair grew closer and finally they decided to defy everyone and run away together.

Not long afterward, Abigail caught Nick in a lie. Afraid that everyone might be right about Nick after all, she tried to back out of their plans to run away, only to have a desperate Nick flew into a rage and manhandle her. Hours later, Nick was found dead, Molly had confessed to his murder, and Abigail woke up with no memory of the last several hours. With no memory of the events surrounding Nick's murder, Abigail was afraid that she'd killed Nick, but was reassured by her family that she could never do anything like that. In addition to her family, Abigail also got support from Adam, who was certain that she was innocent and decided to help her prove it. Though the pair almost lost their lives snooping around Nick's place, Abigail started to get flashes of memory regarding a woman wearing red nail polish. While investigating, Abigail became convinced that Mary (the nanny who kidnapped Jake McKinnon's daughters) was the murderer. However, Mary denied the charge and there was no proof linking her to the murder. Again, Abigail started to have doubts and agreed to undergo hypnosis. Though her memory spurt seemed to show that Abigail killed Nick, later, at Nick's grave, her memory came back completely and, after a confrontation with Mary, Abby suddenly remembered what happened that night: Mary killed Nick! Thankfully Abigail's brother, Aaron, was on hand to hear Mary confess and the charges against Abigail were dropped. Unfortunately, the nightmare was far from over. Her secret uncovered, Mary became unhinged and took Molly hostage in exchange for $1 million dollars. Jake stormed in without police help to rescue Molly, and though he succeeded it was at the cost of his own life after he was shot wrestling a gun away from Mary.

Though finally free, Abigail wouldn't find peace. Feeling guilty about Jake's death and her lack of romantic feelings toward Adam, Abigail tried to go on with her life the best she could. Unfortunately circumstances, such as Molly's closeness to Mike Kasnoff and the brief return of Chris, left Abigail feeling hurt and confused. Needing to get away from Oakdale, Abigail accepted Adam's invitation to join him in Los Angeles. However, her relationship with Adam must have fizzled because, years later, Adam returned to town and there was no mention of Abigail.