Sofie Duran's arrival in Oakdale had long lasting consequences for many Oakdale citizens. Sofie was raised by an elderly grandmother after the death of her parents when she was young. When she was still a teen, her grandmother became ill and, after her death, Sofie went to a convent. Soon after leaving the convent, she met Cole Norbeck and eventually the pair made their way to Oakdale. The older brother of Gwen Norbeck Munson, Cole returned after a long absence in the hopes of benefiting from his sister's fledging music career. In the meantime, Sofie supported herself by getting a job as a waitress at the Lakeview Hotel Lounge. The first friend Sofie made was bartender Aaron Snyder who took an instant liking to the meek, naïve girl and couldn't figure out why she stayed with the overbearing Cole. As Sofie tried to explain why she had to stay with Cole, Aaron realized her secret—she was pregnant. Sofie asked Aaron not to tell anyone and as the weeks went by, Sofie and Aaron's friendship grew. Before long, Sofie's baby was beginning to kick. After seeing Sofie trip during an argument with Cole, Aaron blurted out that Sofie was pregnant. As Sofie feared, Cole wondered if the child was his; he accused it of being Aaron's. Sofie decided to get an abortion but at the last minute could not go through with it. Aaron took pity on Sofie and, when she found herself jobless and homeless, he let her stay at his family's farm. Soon Cole's mother, Iris, found Sofie and harshly accused her of getting pregnant on purpose.

Things took an unexpected turn when Cole suddenly reunited with Sofie and convinced her that they weren't cut out to be parents just yet. Cole convinced Sofie to give the baby up for adoption. At the same time, Gwen's mother-in-law, Barbara Ryan, had arranged for Will and Gwen to adopt a baby. Both adoptions were closed which meant that the birth mother and adoptive family would remain anonymous. Aaron knew the details of Sofie's adoption and his ex-girlfriend, Alison, knew details from Will. After a random conversation with Aaron, it wasn't hard for Alison to figure out that the baby the Munsons were adopting must be Sofie's. Alison went undercover as a pregnant woman and approached Barbara's adoption lawyer. Finding a bootie that Sofie knitted that was going to the adoptive mother, Alison knew she was right. As Alison went to Gwen and Will with her suspicion, Sofie finally went into labor and gave birth to a baby girl. When Gwen learned that her mother and Cole had been party to selling his own baby, she was disgusted. Meanwhile, Cole abandoned Sofie the minute he learned that he wouldn't be getting any money. Scared and alone, Sofie begged Cole to stay but he coldly walked away.

Alone, Sofie decided to let the Munsons adopt her baby after all. Gwen named the baby Hallie Jennifer and Sofie was given a thirty day window to reclaim custody of her baby. As the days went by, Sofie regretted her decision and immediately after the deadline, kidnapped Hallie from the Munson home. Sofie then fled to New York City but unfortunately had no way to care for Hallie. Alone in a big city with a screaming baby, Sofie had no choice but to call Aaron for help. Aaron came to her rescue and tried to convince her to return to Oakdale. Not wanting to lose her child, Sofie slipped away. Unfortunately, Hallie seemed sick so a desperate Sofie called Dr. Chris Hughes, a doctor in Oakdale who befriended her after she gave birth. Chris urged Sofie to return since her baby obviously needed medical care. Sofie heeded his warnings and returned. Though he was Will's cousin, Chris took pity on Sofie and, believing that she suffered from postpartum depression, he aided in her fight to get custody of Hallie. After a custody battle, the judge decided that Gwen and Will should retain custody.

In the meantime, Sofie struck up an unlikely friendship with Will's older brother, Paul. Paul, the victim of a car bombing, was rushed to Memorial Hospital one day while Sofie was visiting Chris. Feeling sorry for Paul, who was injured and alone, Sofie went into his room while he slept. Embarrassed, Sofie offered to leave when he woke up, but Paul wanted some company and asked her to stay. The two quickly bonded to the point where Paul asked Sofie to take him home when he released himself from the hospital. Paul's friendship with Sofie did not go down well with Will who looked upon it as a betrayal. Paul, however, stuck to his guns and defended Sofie. Meanwhile, it became clear that neither Chris nor Paul liked each other since they both warned Sofie to stay clear of the other. Finally standing up for herself, Sofie decided to make her own choice about who her friends were.

Meanwhile, Gwen surprised Sofie by returning Hallie to her since having given up a child herself, Gwen deeply sympathized with her. When Will tried to argue that Gwen was just upset and urged Sofie to return Hallie, Paul stuck up for Sofie to the extent of helping her keep custody and inviting her to live with him at his mansion. Sofie rejected his offer and decided to care for her baby herself. However, it didn't take Sofie long to realize that she was not equipped to care for Hallie. That became painfully clear when Sofie was forced to bring Hallie to work. Though sympathetic to Sofie, her boss, Lisa, made it clear she could not bring the baby to the lounge. Lisa then noticed that Hallie had a fever. Sofie took her daughter to the hospital where it was determined that she needed an emergency blood transfusion. Sofie wasn't a match so she desperately called Gwen and Cole for help. Luckily, Gwen was a match and saved Hallie. Not long after, Cole arrived and talked about how he'd changed and how he wanted to be a father to Hallie. Though months earlier, this was exactly what Sofie wanted to hear, she had serious doubts about his sincerity. Sofie was proven correct that very day when Cole suddenly snatched Hallie. Luckily, security was notified and Cole literally tossed the baby to Will as he ran off. At that point, Sofie decided that Hallie was better off with the Munsons and returned Hallie to them. Soon after, the Munsons decided that it might be best for everyone concerned if they left town.

In the meantime, Sofie overheard Barbara make an appointment for radiation treatment and figured out that Barbara had cancer. Though Barbara wanted to keep her condition a secret, at Sofie's insistence, Barbara finally confided to her sons about her illness. Although, Will and Gwen were poised to reconsider their move out of Oakdale, Barbara refused to let them put their lives on hold for her. At this point, Paul invited Barbara to stay with him at Fairwinds. Sofie, who offered to take care of Barbara when Gwen and Will were gone and, who had already befriended Paul, spent many hours at the mansion where Barbara discovered Sofie's talent for jewelry design. Recognizing that Sofie had talent, Barbara and Paul decided to subsidize her new business venture. During this time, Paul and Sofie developed an attraction to each other and, one night, depressed about losing Meg Snyder, Paul slept with Sofie. Afterwards, Sofie professed her love for Paul. Though Paul tried to convince Sofie that what happened between them was a mistake, Sofie was adamant that they belonged together. Although both Barbara and Paul tried to tell Sofie that the fling meant nothing, the girl became obsessed with Paul. Finally, Paul was forced to eject Sofie from his life when she stripped down to seduce him. When Paul left the room, Sofie trashed it in a fit of rage and ran off to the Lakeview. Clad in her underwear, she was found by Mike Kasnoff and when he asked her what happened, she lied that Paul raped her. Though Sofie asked Mike not to go to the police, he did anyway. Upset that Paul had called her delusional, a vengeful Sofie decided to get even by giving the police proof of the rape—her unwashed underwear from the night in question.

In the meantime, Cole heard about Sofie's new business venture and visited her, hoping for a piece of the action. At that point, Barbara arrived and, while Cole was hiding, Barbara blasted Sofie about her false accusation against Paul. Later, Sofie told Cole about Paul's painful rejection and her lie. Cole promptly seduced her. Afterwards, Cole encouraged Sofie to milk Paul for cash as opposed to sending him to jail. Soon after, Paul gave Sofie a check for $ 100,000 to start her own business and get out his life. Armed with the money, Sofie went to the police and admitted that she'd lied. Through this, Sofie had several run ins with Meg. Wanting to get rid of her rival, Sofie paid Cole to steal some morphine from Memorial Hospital and switched Barbara's medication so that Meg would be blamed for it. Later, Sofie rocked Paul with the news that she was pregnant. Recognizing what a liar Sofie was, Paul demanded that she take a pregnancy test immediately. When the test came back positive, Paul still doubted that he was the father and demanded a sonogram. When the sonogram showed that the baby was conceived on the night she had sex with Cole, Sofie paid Cole to steal a sonogram which would show that she was two months along. Cole complied but blackmailed Sofie for money. Throughout all of this, Sofie lied to Cole about the amount of money Paul had given her and paid him meager amounts of money. In the meantime, both Meg and Barbara had run-ins with Sofie, with Barbara threatening her to leave town or else. That same day, Paul found Sofie at the point of death, the victim of lethal injection. Before she died, Sofie implicated Meg. Desperate to protect Meg, Paul covered up all evidence of Sofie's death and buried her body in the flowerbed outside Fairwinds.

Though Paul made it seem as if Sofie checked out of the Lakeview, Mike was suspicious and suspected foul play. Mike took his suspicions to the police and Paul was ultimately discovered trying to move Sofie's body. Meg, Paul and Barb were suspects in Sofie's death but the real killer was revealed to be Cole. Having heard Sofie and Meg's argument where Meg mentioned the money Paul paid, Cole killed Sofie, and their unborn child, for holding out on him.