Calliope arrived in Salem in 1984. She was employed in Liz Curtis's clothing business and her first scenes featured her making a dress for Anna DiMera. However, Calliope soon came to possess a diamond necklace which was originally owned by Daphne DiMera. She claimed it as her own, but didn't realize that Stefano DiMera was after it, for it contained one of three prisms he was after. Her white lie unknowingly thrust her into a major storyline.

In November of 1984 Alex, Anna, and Tony picked Haiti for a photo shot for their newly formed fashion company. In addition to Calliope and her partners, on board the plane to Haiti were Carlo, Daphne, Eugene Bradford, Bo Brady, Hope Williams, Liz Chandler, and, stowaway, Andre DiMera. In midflight, Andre surprisingly popped up but, when he threatened the pilot to change his course, the pilot died of a heart attack, and the plane crashed on a remote island.

As a result of the plane crash Daphne died in Andre's arms. When Tony learned about his mother's fate, he attacked his cousin and Andre met his demise in a patch of quicksand. Tony gave the necklace with the prism to an island girl, but Stefano managed to get it back. Roman Brady showed up to rescue everyone, but ended up fighting with Stefano atop of a nearby cliff as Bo watched from below. Roman eventually fell and died on the beach in Bo's arms. However, when Bo left Roman to get help, Roman's body was gone when he returned. Eventually, the Coast Guard arrived to rescue everyone.

In 1985, Eugene and Calliope became engaged, but their engagement hit a roadblock. In order for Eugene to collect his inheritance he had to marry a rich and high class woman. Calliope faked the part well, and Eugene was allowed to marry her. However, most of Eugene's inheritance had already been spent by his extravagant mother, Vanessa Van Kessler.

But there was a bigger problem, if his mother was discovered she could face a jail sentence, so in order to help her, Eugene married the wealthy Madeline Rutherford, and also took a job at the paper Salem Today writing a "Dear Abbey" like column under the name Bettina Lovelorn. To pass as Bettina, Eugene often had to dress up in drag. Eventually, Bettina's true identity was revealed. Eugene was fired and sued for fraud. Madeline left him, and with what little money he had left, Eugene and Calliope married on Dec 31, 1985. Sadly, and quite amazingly, in early 1986, shortly after they were married, Eugene disappeared in a time machine he was working on.

Eugene returned in 1989 and hid in Kimberly Donovan's basement. Eugene had traveled into the future and built an android version of Calliope, which he brought back to the present. Eugene and the real Calliope were finally reunited, but men from the future came seeking Eugene's Calliope android and inadvertently took the real Calliope captive by mistake. Eugene managed to free Calliope and the two settled back down. Eugene hasn't been seen since then.

Calliope went on to co-host a daytime talk show with Jennifer Horton-Deveraux. The show was a success, but Calliope would eventually turn over the show over to Jennifer and leave town. However, since her departure in 1990, Calliope has visited Salem several times.

In 2006, Calliope returned to town as a successful wedding planner. Although hired to plan her good friend Marlena's wedding to Alex North, she was also able to help Shawn-Douglas Brady and Mimi Lockhart with theirs, despite normally being booked two years in advance. Still eccentric, Calliope butted head with Mimi's mother Bonnie Lockhart, a fellow eccentric, but with different wild taste. During her trip, Calliope also commented Eugene was doing just fine and she was now living in New York City.