The elder child of Jack and Jennifer Deveraux, Abby was very loved by both of her parents. As an infant, she came down with aplastic anemia, as the result of a polluted water well. She desperately needed a bone marrow transplant, and because of Jack's Hodgkin's he was not able to donate to her, but luckily her mother's friend and co-worker Austin Reed was a perfect match. Abby was barely out of the woods when Jack, who discovered he was responsible for her anemia, took off. Before long, Abby was starting to associate Jennifer's new boyfriend Peter Blake with fatherhood, but Jack soon came back into her life. After a series of misadventures, (including her father going to prison and her mother being presumed dead), Abby and her family left Salem for Africa.

A few years later, Abby and her mother were living in Ireland, but returned home after encountering her honorary uncle Bo Brady there. Abby was thrilled when Jack followed not long after that, and began hoping that her parents would find their way back to each other, despite her mother's relationship with Brandon Walker and Colin Murphy. She was overjoyed when her parents were married, but devastated when, not long afterward, her father was murdered by the Salem Stalker. When Jennifer had to make the decision to take Jack off life support, Abby blamed her, and turned to her grandmother Jo and honorary grandfather Vern for comfort. Her emotions seesawed for a few months (she was happy when her mother got pregnant, angry when her mother considered terminating the pregnancy for health reasons), but eventually she started accepting the way things were, and with new friend and Deveraux boarder Patrick Lockhart, is eagerly anticipating her new sibling's birth.

Abby was away at camp when Jennifer decided to take off and go looking for Jack. When she returned home, she resented the fact that her mother had sent her away. Even though she was happy to meet her new brother, when she realized that her father was (once again) presumed dead, she blamed her mother, and wished that Jennifer was dead instead of Jack. Jennifer started rebelling from her mother after she came home with her new baby brother, Jack Jr., and spent a lot of time with her new friend Chelsea, who was pretending to be sweet and kind around Jennifer but was really a bad influence on Abby. She even had Abby going alone with her in her plans to drug Patrick so that she could sleep with him. When Jack finally came back from the dead for real, though, Abby was thrilled, and although still close friends with Chelsea, her closeness with her family changed Abby somewhat. Abby was devastated to learn that her father, Jack, was dying and that she would soon lose him again, but Chelsea was there to offer comfort to her friend.

Abby was overjoyed when things turned around for Jack, and he went into remission again. Shortly thereafter, though, Jack and Jennifer announced their plans to move to London. Although Jack Jr. went with their parents, Abby elected to stay in Salem and finish school, and shortly thereafter, as a university student, began working at Max Brady's garage. She soon developed a crush on Max, who at the time was back and forth between Chelsea and Stephanie, but when he broke things off with Chelsea and Stephanie left town, Max admitted that he had feelings for her as well, the two began to see each other, much to the dismay of Abby's family, who thought Max was too old and too experienced for Abby. When Abby's relationship with Max proved to be too difficult, she left Salem to attend school in New York.

Abby (then going by "Abigail") returned to Salem in 2011 to be with a newly-single Jennifer. Abigail had a hard time dealing with her parent's divorce and the fact that her dad had walked out on the family. But, she wanted her mom to be happy. Abigail reluctantly supported Jennifer's relationship with Daniel Jonas, despite how much Abigail was hurting from missing Jack.

Abigail also met Chad DiMera in the spring of 2011. They began slowly dating, but Abigail remained concerned about getting romantically involved with Stefano DiMera's son. Eventually she saw that Chad wanted nothing to do with his father and Chad and Abigail's relationship progressed.

In September of 2011, Jack suddenly appeared back in Salem. Abigail was furious with her father for leaving them without saying anything, being out of touch for a year, and then suddenly reappearing. It turns out that Jack had gone to Afghanistan to investigate a story about a drug ring without telling his family where he was going. While he was there, he was kidnapped, tortured, and held hostage. Abigail felt bad for the suffering that her father endured, but still had a hard time forgiving him for leaving without telling anyone.

Chad was there for Abigail through Jack's return and the two grew closer, both personally and professionally. Abigail contributed articles to Chad's webiste, SalemSportsFan.com, and even won a journalism award for one of the columns that she'd written. Things went well until Chad started noticing that he had more in common with Abigail's best friend, Melanie; and Abigail realized that she was starting to have feelings for the much older, Austin.

Abigail and Chad made the mutual decision to break up on New Year's Eve 2011. A few days later, Abigail caught Chad and Melanie looking very close and realized that the two of them had feelings for each other. Abigail was furious at both of them, especially Melanie. Despite Melanie's offer to give up Chad, Abigail could not forgive Melanie.

Abigail turned her attention towards Austin. Thanks to a work-study element of her financial aid, Abigail was required to have an on-campus job. Austin offered her the position of his student assistant. Abigail was thrilled to work so closely with Austin and frequently fantasized about him returning her feelings.

Abigail also applied for an intern with Madison James at Mad World Cosmetics. Madison hired Abigail and offered her a job as a model in her ad campaign that featured real-life best friends. The only condition was that Melanie was the other model. Thus, unless Melanie and Abigail could mend their broken friendship, they could not be in the ad campaign. However, as Abigail grew more obsessed with Austin, she forgot about Chad and even told Melanie that they could be friends again.

A few days later, Austin appeared back in his officer, completely intoxicated. Abigail was there. She tried to comfort him. He told her that Carrie had betrayed him. Abigail kissed him. He told her to stop. She reassured him that it was okay and kissed him again. Then, Austin passed out on the couch. Abigail took her clothes off and lay down next to him. When he woke up, Abigail told Austin that they had slept together. Horrified, Austin went to make things better with Carrie. When Abigail saw Austin kissing Carrie later, she was heartbroken.

When Austin came to her and wanted to fix their marriage, Carrie agreed to give it a try. The two of them went away for a romantic weekend. But, a heartbroken Abigail tracked them down. When Austin refused to return her feelings, Abigail announced that the two of them had slept together. Carrie was furious with Austin and left.

Abigail believed that she and Austin were meant to be together. While ranting to Melanie about her love for Austin, Abigail let it slip that the two of them did not slept together. Melanie urged Abigail to tell the truth. Abigail confessed to Austin that she had made up the whole affair. Carrie, Jack and Jennifer overheard her confession. Carrie slapped Abigail and accused her of ruining Carrie's life. Despite Jack and Jennifer's protest, Carrie insisted that Abigail was an adult and must be held accountable for her actions. Carrie left the Town Square in tears. Austin chased after her. Jack and Jennifer comforted Abigail. She swore that she would never do anything like that again.

Abigail spent her time hanging out with her friends and trying to forget the embarrassment of her lie about Austin. One day, she bumped into a handsome stranger, Cameron Davis - Lexie's half-brother. The two began a flirtation that soon turned into a relationship.

Her relationship with her father improved as well. He worked with Marlena and a support group to recover from PTSD. Eventually, he was able to open up to Abigail about it and she soon forgave him.

In July 2012, Abigail and Cameron attended a memorial/autism fundraiser. However, there was a great explosion that night in the tunnels underneath Salem. Many buildings were damaged, including the banquet hall where Lexie's benefit was being held. Abigail was trapped in the elevator.

Jennifer, Jack, and Cameron worked to get Abigail out. When they were able to pry the doors open a little, Jack went into the elevator to rescue Abigail. But, the elevator cables continued to break. Cameron and Jennifer were able to open the doors again and Jack pushed Abigail out. Then, the doors closed and the final cables broke. The elevator crashed with Jack inside. Roman reported that the EMTs pronounced Jack dead upon impact. Heartbroken, Abigail and Jennifer traveled to London to be with J.J.