Charles Grant tried to keep the peace in the Grant family. A good man, he loved his family and believed in doing the right thing by them. However, he and his wife, Vivian, often disagreed in how to educate their children and, while their daughter, Gilly, became very successful, their son, David, rebelled and ended up in prison for murder. In 1991, Charles supported Gilly's engagement to former football player Hampton Speakes, whom he liked very much, and was happy to see Gilly and Hamp marry in April 1992. At that time, David suddenly returned after being released from prison and Charles feared that David could have a bad influence to Gilly's marriage since Hamp did not like David at all. Charles was right because in 1993, Gilly and Hamp separated. Meanwhile, Charles wanted to repair his relationship with his soon, however, Vivian was so inclined. Vivian disapproved of David's new love, Hamp's daughter Kat Speakes, due to Gilly and Hamp's breakup and Charles and Vivian's marriage became strained. Not long after, racist Vinnie Morrison fatally fell into his own knife after a brawl with David and David fled out of fear of being charged for murder. Unfortunately, Vivian cared more about the social status of the Grant family than about David so she called the police to arrest her son. Luckily for David, Gilly helped him to escape again and an angry Charles accused his wife of being as cold as ice. Meanwhile, neither Charles nor Vivian had any idea about Gilly and David's big secret: that David went to prison for murdering gigolo Davenport to protect Gilly who had killed him in self-defense! Though Gilly now confessed everything, Davenport's real murderer turned out to be Norrie Ryan, sister. Fortunately, in the end, not only did Vivian make up with David but David was cleared of Vinnie's murder. On the professional front, in 1994, Charles was worried about Ed Bauer who was about to suffer a nervous breakdown due to private problems. In the end, Charles convinced Ed to get help and Ed recovered.

Later, the Grant family was happy when Gilly got involved with ambitious lawyer Sid Dickerson. Unfortunately, David and Vivian's relationship became strained again and Charles tried to meditate. Not long after, David married immigrant Gabriela but she suddenly disappeared in 1995 and Charles was shocked to learn from David that Vivian arranged for her to be departed. Despite his shock, Charles defended Vivian by stating that Vivian had only acted out of love for David. Unfortunately, David didn't accept that and blasted his father for never taking a stand. Later, Ed's fatally ill fiancée, Eve Guthrie, was about to die from a heart attack and though Charles and Rick Bauer tried everything to save her, Eve died anyway. Charles had respect for Eve as a colleague and organized an investigation to discover why exactly Eve had died, since Eve had been on an experimental new medication. However, after Nurse Lillian Raines stated that there was nothing suspicious when she checked on Eve the last time, Charles declared Eve's death as natural and would never learn that Ed had plugged her life support machines because Eve hadn't wanted to suffer, while Lillian and Rick covered for Ed. Meanwhile, David continued to lash out toward Vivian and Charles gave lectured David about giving his mother the proper respect. He then told David that he was wrong about Vivian. She wasn't just a snob; she was a woman of great beliefs who fought for civil rights side by side with Dr. Martin Luther King. Soon after, Griffin Williams, a well respected civil rights activist, came to town and Charles learned in 1996 that Griffin had been on Vivian's side during the protests of the 60s. Charles admired Griffin, they became friends and Charles got Griffin to stay in town by convincing him to teach politics at Springfield's university for one year. However, to Charles's surprise, Vivian disapproved of Griffin's stay as well as his relationship with Gilly.

In the upcoming weeks, Vivian became more and more nervous and one day, when Griffin was about to tell Charles something, Vivian stopped him and claimed that Griffin had tried to kiss her but that nothing had happened. Charles was shocked, since he saw Griffin as his friend, but despite the fact that Gilly claimed that Vivian was lying, Charles believed Vivian. Not long after, Charles was called by Gilly to Griffin's hotel room and with Charles, Gilly and Griffin in attendance; Vivian finally confessed her dark secret: Gilly wasn't Charles' daughter but Griffin's! Apparently, back in the 60s, Vivian had admired Griffin and had an affair with him despite the fact that she was already married to Charles. She was even ready to leave Charles but Griffin refused to marry her so Vivian went back to Charles and kept everything a secret. When she discovered that she was pregnant, Vivian passed her off as Charles's. At this point, Charles surprised everyone by stating that he had known all along that Gilly wasn't his daughter because he had had a blood test done when she was born. However, he had stayed with Vivian anyway because he loved her and he also loved Gilly and thought that she couldn't be blamed for the mistakes of her mother. With the whole truth finally out, Charles wasn't sure if he wouldn't lose Vivian because he realized that she and Griffin had revived their old affair weeks earlier. Soon after, Griffin regretted his betrayal of Charles and told him that he had left Vivian because she had been working as a spy for Alan Spaulding. Charles was only surprised that Vivian's clandestine work was more important to Griffin than the fact that she was a married woman. Meanwhile, Gilly assured Charles that she thought of him as her real father. At this time, Charles moved to the club and, following the resignation and departure of Ed, Charles became Chief of Staff at Cedars.

As for Vivian, she asked Charles for forgiveness but he wanted a wife who honestly loved him and since this wasn't the case, he left Vivian. Not long after, Griffin was shot during a demonstration but Charles and Rick saved his life. Unfortunately, Vivian became the prime suspect because she had knowledge of weapons. After the gun was found in her car, she was arrested, but Charles, despite his anger, helped her. In the end, it turned out that Griffin himself was the real culprit because he had set everything up as a publicity stunt. Griffin saved Vivian by confessing everything and, instead of hating him, Charles thanked him and convinced him to stay in Springfield because he had done so much good for the people and should continue his work. In addition, Charles slowly forgave Vivian so that the couple finally reunited and peace returned in the Grant family.

In 1997, Charles suspended Rick from Cedars because he had punched an administrator but after Rick saved a little girl, Charles reinstated him. The only condition was that Rick apologize to the administrator. Meanwhile, Vanessa Reardon's doctor from Switzerland, Dr. Michael Burke, worked at Cedars but when Vanessa had complications through her pregnancy and Michael gave her an overdose of medication, Charles fired him. In 1998, when Buzz rushed Jenna to cedars, he asked Charles for >permission to get married in the ER. Charles denied at first, but reconsidered when Griffin begged him to let the couple get married. Though he held a grudge against Griffin, after Buzz signed a waiver so the hospital wouldn`t be liable, Charles allowed the couple to be married. Later, Charles bought medical equipment for Cedars from the criminal Santos family. Not only that, but the equipment was faulty! Finally, the stress caused him to suffer a heart attack at the Bauer Barbecue. As a result, David returned to town and Charles finally recovered. In 1999, David became a cop, to Charles's surprise, and when he was arrested for being a corrupt cop, only Charles realized the truth: that David was faking everything in cooperation with his boss, Officer Frank Cooper, to work undercover against the Santoses because David wanted revenge for what the Santoses had done to Charles. Charles tried to convince David to stop his undercover work but David remained headstrong.. Meanwhile, Rick was suspended from Cedars again because he had committed his sister, Michelle, under false pretenses to a sanitarium to protect her from the Santoses. Later, Charles reinstated Rick who, over the years, believed that he was practicing medicine without a valid license.

In 2000, Rick confessed everything to Charles and Charles supported him anyway. In the end, everyone learned that Rick's old teacher, Claire Ramsey, had lied all along and Rick was reinstated again, while Charles suspended Claire for a time. After this Cedars case, Charles and Vivian led a secluded life. In July 2002, a comatose Richard Winslow died under mysterious circumstances and Edmund Winslow made an appointment with Charles to tell him that someone had killed his brother so that Rick (who needed a heart transplantation) would get Richard's heart. As a result, Charles decided to launch an investigation. To his surprise, Ed confessed that he had pulled the plug on Richard's life supporting machines and, though skeptical, Charles accepted the confession. Later, Charles met with Mel Boudreau, who admitted that Richard's life support was turned off before she got to his room but she kept quiet to protect Ed since she thought he was responsible. As a result, Charles suspended Mel and told Richard's widow, Cassie Winslow, everything. Later, Cassie informed Charles that she wanted action to be taken by the hospital board and finally, Reva Lewis confessed that she was the one who had turned off Richard's life support because he asked her to. Not only that, but Lillian knew Mel's own crimes and that Ed was innocent and Charles suspended Lillian for a while as well. After the case was over, Rick asked Charles to reinstate Mel and Charles agreed when Mel was the only one on hand to save Eden August after a shooting.

In early 2004, Rick asked for a meeting with Charles in order to discuss some problems that Ed had been having at the hospital (such as almost giving Shayne Lewis the wrong medication and freezing in the ER). However, Ed beat him to it and confessed his previous patient mistakes, making it sound as if it were just a slight fatigue problem. To Rick's consternation, Charles believed Ed's version of events and simply gave him a few days off to relax, when Rick knew he needed a long-term leave of absence. In May 2006, Charles learned from Beth Raines that Rick had given a false report when exhuming Phillip Spaulding's grave. It turned out that Rick knowingly lied that Phillip's body was in the crypt. Charles fired Rick since he breached medical ethics by falsely ID'ing a body for personal reasons. Rick tried to plead for his job, citing family problems, but Charles was adamant-- Rick opened the hospital up to lawsuits and bad publicity and needed to be out by the end of the day. However, a few months later, Charles changed his mind after a talk with Beth and reinstated Rick under certain conditions. In 2008, Charles did the wealthy Alan Spaulding a favor by making sure that Rick was on call when Alan wanted to go to San Gabriel with Beth, who was now Rick's wife.