1993: Julia arrived in Pine Valley in August, having been sent by her parents to live with her older sister, Maria, after she had a fling with an older, married man. (Julia's other sibs are brother Mateo and sisters Anita and Rosa.) Julia soon fell for Terrence Frye, which didn't sit well with Taylor Roxbury-Cannon, who wanted Terrence for herself. After things with Terrence didn't work out, Julia had a brief involvement with Anton Lang, which went belly-up when Kendall Hart entered Anton's picture.

1994: Julia took up with Del Henry, Maria's ex, which greatly concerned Maria, but the relationship didn't last long. Shortly thereafter, Julia sustained a serious slash to her face when a chandelier fell during the big Pine Valley tornado. She was left with a disfiguring scar. Julia took off for Center City, where Noah Keefer took her in. At Noah's place, Julia was raped by drug-dealing sociopath Louie Greco. She made the difficult decision to abort the resulting pregnancy. Julia also underwent plastic surgery to mend her scar.

1995: Julia and Noah slowly fell in love, but she was so haunted by the rape that she had difficulty opening up to him. Taylor, her old rival, capitalized on this and pulled out all the stops to win Noah's affections. She even faked a pregnancy and Noah promised to be responsible for the child, but made it clear to Taylor that it was Julia who he loved. Noah and Julia finally declared their feelings for one another, but the relationship was challenged when Louie returned to menace Julia. Louie kidnapped her while Noah was in jail for attacking him. After Noah was released, he hunted Louie down and started to beat him, which Taylor secretly observed. Louie brandished a gun; Noah fought back. Louie stumbled backward and fell, dying from the resulting injuries. Sly Taylor pocketed the weapon that proved Noah's behavior had been in self-defense and on the day he was to wed Julia, Noah was arrested for Louie's murder.

1996: Noah was found guilty of murdering Louie. With Julia's help, he escaped from prison and they went on the run, with Taylor and other law-enforcement officials in hot pursuit. Noah and Julia made it to Jamaica. When Taylor caught up with them, she pushed Julia over a waterfall. Julia survived and, with Noah, concocted a wild scheme to force Taylor to confess that Noah was innocent. The plot, involving faked deaths and voodoo potions, was a success and Noah's name was cleared. Noah and Julia finally wed in a fairy-tale ceremony back in Pine Valley. But their married life was far from calm. Noah's mom, Rose, showed up in Pine Valley, but her return greatly endangered her family as she was being pursued by a hit man. Julia witnessed Noah's sister, Belinda, being shot by a high-powered criminal, Slade, who wanted to eliminate the Keefers. His first victim was Julia's dad, Hector, whose car brakes were maliciously tampered with. After Julia testified against Slade, she, Noah and Rose had no choice but to enter the Witness Protection Program and they were whisked out of town.

1997: After the plane crash that left Maria presumed dead, Julia briefly made contact with Mateo to warn him that the doomed flight might have been sabotaged.

2002: Mateo arranged for Julia to make a quick trip home to reunite with a back-from-the-dead Maria. Despite the fact that Maria was still an amnesiac, the women developed a fast bond.