Auto mechanic Mike Kasnoff met wealthy Rosanna Cabot when he was hired to fix her car. Expecting the heir to the Cabot fortune to be a snob, he was surprised by her sweetness and sincerity and the two fell in love. Of course Rosanna's father, Alex, didn't take the news lightly and offered to finance Mike's dream of being a stock car racer if he stayed away from his daughter. Not one to be bought, Mike refused the offer and later told Ro about it. With Rosanna's help and encouragement, Mike was able to fulfill his dream and the pair went to Florida to race his car "Ludie Bell." Though he finished second in the race, Mike's happiness was shattered when he saw Ro sitting with his old girlfriend-the one who set him up for robbery-and mistakenly thought they were laughing at him. Angry and hurt, Mike stormed off and left Rosanna in Florida alone. Later when Mike learned that Missy was paid by Alex to drive a wedge between the he and Ro, he angrily confronted Alex who suffered a major heart attack and died. Alex's death was the beginning of the end for Mike and Rosanna. Though she was never close with her father, Rosanna blamed Mike for his death and ordered him from her life. Depressed, he let himself be seduced in a bar by a sexy blond named Carly Tenney. The next day, Rosanna went to Mike saying she'd made a mistake and she wanted him back. Not long after Mike met Ro's half-sister: Carly! Though he admitted his infidelity to Rosanna, he didn't name names and told Carly to keep quiet or else he'd tell Ro that Carly knew they were sisters before Rosanna found her and told her. His life secure, Mike asked Ro to marry him.

Though Mike knew Carly wasn't the sweet, innocent person she made herself out to be, Mike believed that she would toe the line. Unfortunately, he was mistaken. On his wedding day to Rosanna, Carly cruelly revealed to Rosanna that she and Mike slept together when they were apart. For the first time, Rosanna saw Carly's vicious streak and found out that she was only after her money. Hurt, Rosanna broke the engagement and by the time she was ready to forgive Mike, he had been seduced again by Carly, who was now pregnant with his child. Despite their desire to stay together, Carly's continual presence was more that Rosanna could take and one night she lashed out at Carly. Carly lost her baby, and when Mike hesitated about whether it was Rosanna's fault, Rosanna knew the relationship was over. Wanting to be as far away as possible, Rosanna left town and Carly left soon after. In addition, Mike had to contend with the arrival of his brother and sister and their problems, such as Mark's affair with Connor Walsh and Sarah's relationship with Paul Ryan,

As Mike was building up his stock racing career, he was also helping out his friend, Lily Walsh, who was investigating a man named Umberto Malzone, who may have been responsible for the death of her husband, Damian. Not able to get to Malzone, Lily discovered that he had an employee named Diego Santana and got close to him in order to get the goods on Malzone. Amidst this intrigue, Mike met a beautiful woman named Pilar who was stranded on the side of the road when her car broke down. Gallantly offering to help her fix her car, Mike became quite taken with Pilar who recognized him from the stock car circuit and teased him about losing to a driver named Domingo, a driver that Mike thought took too many risks on the track. Liking Mike, Pilar agreed to give him her number, if he beat Domingo in the next race. However, to Mike's chagrin, and Pilar's amusement, he lost again to Domingo. Later, after losing a third race, Mike made a startling discovery--Pilar was Domingo! Finding out that she was Domingo, Mike lit into her for her reckless driving. Although she was certain that he was mad because he lost to a woman, he argued that she took too many unnecessary chances to win and was certain someone would get hurt. The following week, Mike's fears were confirmed when during a race, Pilar's car crashed and she was rushed to Memorial.

Frantically trying to save her life, the doctors discovered that she had a rare blood type and went on a desperate search. As the doctors were working to save Pilar, Diego was at the hospital looking troubled and torn. Finally, he went to the doctors and told them check him for compatibility. To everyone's relief, it was a match and Pilar's life was saved. Not long after, Mike overheard Dr. Susan Stewart thank Diego for his blood donation and became suspicious. Doing some investigating, he found a picture in Pilar's locker that was identical to one Diego had in his apartment. Putting more clues together, Mike made shocking discovery--Pilar was Diego's sister! At the same time, Pilar herself found out that Diego was responsible for the plane crash that killed Damian.

Not long after things would finally come to a head. Scared of what an agitated Pilar might say, Diego kept her drugged. When Mike realized what was happening, he convinced Pilar to stop taking the pills she was being given. Trusting Mike, she complied and once clear-headed, she tried to escape the hospital. Unfortunately, she was stopped by Diego himself. Again Pilar tried to reason with her brother, telling him that Lily would never forgive him if she learned he was Umberto, a murderer. Again Mike was able to get to Pilar and convinced her that Diego was a dangerous man, citing Diego's recent rape of Emily Stewart. Hating her brother for the crimes he had committed, Pilar made plans to escape again and go to the police. However, before she had the chance, Diego was killed on his wedding day, apparently by his new wife, Lily! Lily became the prime suspect when it was learned that she overheard Pilar and Diego's argument, thus learning that Diego was responsible for Damian's death.

Totally devastated by Diego's death, Pilar demanded that Lily pay. Although Pilar had the ability to help the police go easy on Lily, given Diego's crimes, this time Pilar refused to acknowledge that Diego had done anything wrong. In denial, she placed the blame of his death entirely on Lily, making her the cause of his ruin. After painting Lily as a psychopath who killed Diego in cold blood, Pilar made sure that Lily wouldn't get parole by staging an attack so that the police would think Lily attacked her. Although Mike tried to get Pilar to see reason, she refused and continually defended her brother to everyone. Consumed with rage over her brother's death, Pilar started taking even more chances on the race track, appearing suicidal. Concerned for her well-being, Mike confronted her and, following a heated exchange, she finally broke down and revealed that this was all her fault since she wished her brother dead. Finally able to see her brother for what he really was, Pilar agreed to help Lily. Later, Pilar and Mike left Oakdale together to race in Spain.

Years later, Mike, obviously no longer with Pilar, would meet a young widow named Molly McKinnon. Striking up a friendship, Mike followed her back to Oakdale only to learn that she was Carly's cousin! Though he was falling in love with Molly, he couldn't deny the feelings he still had for both Carly and Rosanna. Though he was able to rebuff Rosanna's advances, after an argument with Molly, Mike found himself repeating history by making love to Carly right before her wedding. However both decided it was a mistake and decided to keep quiet about the incident. Afterwards, Carly found herself pregnant! Though she struggled to keep her indiscretion with Mike a secret, the truth came out with an angry Jack and Molly leaving Carly and Mike.

During the course of Carly's pregnancy, Mike put all his energies into making sure she was taking care of herself and the baby he was positive was his. Though Molly later offered to go back to him, Mike suspected that she wouldn't be able to deal with his connection to Carly and rejected her. Following the end of that relationship, Mike became friends with Katie Peretti at the same time that her husband, Simon, deserted her. Since Mike was almost single-minded in his concern for Carly, Katie helped him to relax and focus on something else for a change. Later, Katie would support a devastated Mike when he learned that Carly's baby, Sage, was not his. Not long after, Katie finally learned the truth about Simon's disappearance--he was on the run after killing Bartleby in self defense. Despite pleas from her friend Henry to not look for Simon since her life would be in danger, Katie decided to set out for Australia. Though she initially accepted Mike's offer to go with her, she changed her mind after realizing that he was developing romantic feelings toward her and tried to sneak out of Oakdale without him. However, due to a delay at the airport, she was unsuccessful and, despite her objections, Mike went with her.

Unfortunately, upon arriving at the Frasier ranch, the pair was captured by Mordecai, Bartleby's brother, and held hostage. Mordecai then told them his plan--he was using them as bait to lure Simon out of hiding so he could get revenge for Simon killing his brother. Though they tried to escape, with Katie even trying to send a message to her sister, Margo, all their attempts were fruitless and finally Mordecai took Katie away to be rescued by Simon. Tied to a chair that had a bomb tied to it, Katie suddenly heard Simon's voice and tried to warn him that it was a trap. Then came Katie's rescuer--but this time, it wasn't Simon; it was Mike! Having freed himself from the basement where they had been held captive, Mike succeeded in untying Katie, but ended up engaging the bomb's timer. Though Katie insisted that they look for Simon, Mike knew they only had a few minutes left and dragged Katie out of the building seconds before the bomb went off! Realizing that she'd lost Simon forever, Katie blamed Mike and told him she'd never forgive him for denying her the chance to see her husband again.

Soon after, Katie was told that the remains of a man were found in the rubble; the DNA was a match for Simon. Filled with anger and guilt for her role in his death, a depressed Katie continued to blame Mike for saving her life and told him she'd never forgive him. Still suffering, Katie suddenly became ill and was taken to Memorial where she was diagnosed with a disorder caused by insects native to Australia. Luckily, the condition was treatable with medication and Katie was able to go back to Margo's. However, Katie was still furious at Mike and rebuffed his attempts at friendship, even telling him she wished he was dead. That same night, while Mike was walking across the street to help a pedestrian, a car mowed him down, leaving him in critical condition. Later, Katie suddenly remembered, she was the hit and run driver! Deeply concerned that she may have almost killed one of her best friends, a guilty Katie resolved to tell Mike the truth about the accident. Her anger toward him completely gone, Katie confessed the truth to Mike who surprisingly forgave her and told the police nothing. Realizing that she'd been hurtful and unfair to Mike, and finally realizing that she did have feelings for him, Katie opened herself to a relationship with him.

After Katie accepted Mike's marriage proposal, who else but Simon would return to Oakdale alive! Pleading his undying love for Katie, Simon tried to get her to leave with him, but Katie refused since she was engaged. Telling Katie that he couldn't live without her, Simon warned her that his life was still in danger (a claim substantiated when some goons shot at him and Katie) and he wanted them to go on the run together. Though Katie confused as to whether to stay in Oakdale or go on the run with Simon, Simon needed an immediate answer. Torn between Simon and Mike, Katie quickly made her decision and, after telling Mike that she loved him, she set out to leave with Simon. Fearing for Katie's safety, Mike went to Margo for help. Though they thought finding them would be impossible, they caught a break and found out that they were hiding out at the docks.

Mike again tried to persuade Katie that she should stay in Oakdale where it was safe. In the meantime, Simon overheard Katie say that although she loved Mike, she needed to be with Simon. Realizing that Katie had changed in the year that he'd been gone, and recognizing that she would genuinely miss the life she had in Oakdale, Simon went to Mike and made plans to leave without Katie. Knowing that Katie would follow Simon to the ends of the earth, thus endangering her life, they locked the gate to the harbor and Simon changed his itinerary. After saying a heartfelt goodbye to Katie, who told Simon she'd hate him forever if he abandoned her again, Simon left for parts unknown. Although Mike tried to make Katie understand that they were only trying to save her life, she reacted again with anger and hostility. Tired of apologizing for saving Katie's life, Mike decided he was through chasing after her.

Soon after, who but a teary-eyed Pilar would arrive at Mike's doorstep, apparently the victim of a mugging. Concerned, Mike got Pilar to a hospital and, upon her release, asked her to stay with him since she'd confessed that she'd been beaten by her abusive lover who was threatening her life. Although Mike saw no reason to doubt Pilar's story, Katie was very suspicious and was certain that Pilar was out to hurt Mike. Though Katie tried to convince Mike that Pilar was lying and out to hurt him, he refused to believe it. When a man named Russ Terrier appeared to be stalking Pilar, Katie was certain that Russ and Pilar were working together. Later, Mike discovered Russ and, despite Pilar's pleas, he had him arrested. In the meantime, Katie's obsession with proving Pilar's duplicity kept growing until finally Mike saw her attack Pilar. Katie was sent to a mental hospital. However, when Mike learned that Pilar gave Katie a picture of her and Mike together, he began to wonder if Katie was right about Pilar--that she wasn't the sweet, innocent girl she pretended to be. Realizing that Katie was right all along, Mike wrote Pilar out of his life.

At the same time, Katie was rescued from the hospital by Simon. It was then that Pilar's true motive for coming to town was discovered--Simon hired her to get Mike away from Katie. While Simon was getting what he wanted, Katie, Pilar was left in the lurch since Mike no longer trusted her and wanted nothing to do with her. Angry that Katie ruined everything for her, a truly demented Pilar decided to get even by kidnapping Katie to the boathouse near Mike's home and murdering her. Unfortunately for Pilar, she made a fatal error by giving Mike (who'd called her cell phone) a clue as to their whereabouts. Mike's arrival was all the distraction Katie needed to wrap Pilar in a fisherman's net as a means to get away. Unfortunately for Pilar, Katie's efforts caused her to fall on her own knife. Shocked at what she'd done and Simon's part in it, Katie briefly left town. With her gone, Mike concentrated on his professional career and got a job remodeling for BRO.

At the same time, he let himself be talked into helping Henry snare the heart of Nikki Munson. However, unknown to Henry, she already had eyes for someone--Mike! So, Mike and Nikki's sister, Jennifer, who worked at BRO, were forced to stand by and watch two people go after someone who just wasn't interested. Throughout the course of several weeks, Jennifer and Mike became closer and it was obvious that they were attracted to each other. Finally, after a few months of getting to know each other, the two realized their feelings and decided to pursue a relationship. Later, Katie finally returned. Although it was clear she wanted Mike back, Mike was devoted to his relationship with Jennifer. Not long after, Mike was shocked when Katie suddenly announced her engagement to Henry! Although it was unclear as to whether this was genuine or merely a ploy to make him jealous, Mike refused to get caught up in Katie's drama and resolved to stay out of it. In the end, the marriage went forward, with Katie apparently truly in love with Henry. At the same time, Jennifer was trying to handle her new career and was shocked when Worldwide (which owned her company) gave her a new manager--Craig Montgomery. Although the two clashed, when Jen was worried she'd lost Mike, she ended up impulsively sleeping with Craig.

A horrified Jennifer just wanted to forget the entire incident, but Craig didn't make it easy by blackmailing her--he'd only keep quiet about her affair if she stayed at Street Jeans. Jennifer, though, countered by telling Mike the truth anyway. Weeks later, Jen was shocked to learn she was pregnant! When Jennifer told Mike, he surprised her by offering to raise the baby as his own. Although it was decided the truth should be kept from Craig, since all were convinced he'd be a bad parent, Katie accidentally let it slip out. Craig was determined to be a part of this child's life and made that fact perfectly clear to Jennifer, despite her protests. Unwilling to let a man such as Craig be in her child's life, others came up with a plan to run him out of town by framing him for drug possession. Jennifer and Mike then married. However, when Mike learned that Jen had known all about the plot to run Craig out of town, he left her and mere days later, fell into Katie's arms. Although Mike tried to make amends with Jennifer, she turned him away, leaving him to be with Katie. By this point, Katie had realized that her heart belonged to Mike and not Henry and she filed for divorce and asked Mike to move in with her.

Months later, trouble began with the newly-published book--"Oakdale Confidential." The book, which revealed secrets of many of Oakdale's citizens, made Mike very nervous and he was furious when he found out Katie had written it. Finally, Mike confessed his dark secret to Katie: right after he got out of prison years ago, he met a woman who handed him a hot bag of rubies and split. Now with the book talking about Mike's criminal past, he was worried someone might find out about the rubies. When Katie asked what he did with the rubies, he admitted that he buried them. In the basement of what was now Carly's house. Although Mike wanted to confess all to the police, Katie convinced him to just dig up the rubies and return them - anonymously. Unfortunately, instead of finding the rubies in the basement, Mike found a skeleton! The dead body was identified as Maya Gold--the woman who gave Mike the rubies earlier. Immediately after Mike married Katie, he was arrested for murder. In the meantime, Mike's cousin, Detective Nick Kasnoff, who'd been staying with Katie and Mike for months, took drastic measures to clear Mike by stealing evidence--a St. Christopher medallion with Mike's DNA that was found in the dead girl's hand. However, when Katie found another medallion, she started wondering if Nick was covering for himself, not Mike. As both Katie and Carly got closer to the truth, Nick got even more desperate and ended up holding both women hostage. Luckily, Mike and Jack were able to track them down. While Jack went off to find Carly, Mike pleaded with Nick to turn himself in. Cornered, Nick attacked Mike in order to escape. To keep him from killing Mike, Katie grabbed Nick's gun which was on the ground and fatally shot Nick.

Months later, Mike and Katie went on a honeymoon cruise and were shocked to find none other than Simon. After getting knocked out by Mike, Simon assured him that his presence there was merely a coincidence while Katie suspected that he was there to scam money from his lover, the wealthy Vienna Hyatt. Afterwards, Simon moved back to Oakdale. Though Katie was certain he was there to either break up her marriage or con some woman out of her money, Simon denied it. He also surprised her by stating that he struck oil in Australia and was now a very wealthy man. Katie was disturbed to learn that Simon was setting up roots in Oakdale and bought a building. Not only that, he hired Carly (who became close to Katie over the Maya Gold mystery) to decorate it. Katie was certain that Simon's motive was to ruin her marriage and she insisted that Carly refuse to work for Simon, but Carly refused to give up a good job because of Katie's paranoia. As much as Mike tried to get Katie to simply ignore Simon, she became obsessed and was certain that his new relationship with Carly was for her benefit. Months later, Mike innocently read an entry in Katie's computer (thinking it contained an excerpt of her new book) and was shocked to read a blog entry regarding her tryst with Simon. Unable to forgive Katie's infidelity, Mike left her.

Over a year later, Mike returned to Oakdale when Emma Snyder decided to sell her farm. Now working as a project supervisor for a large corporation, Mike pitched the idea of his company buying her land and using it to build an environmentally friendly housing development. Emma, who had known Mike ever since he first met Rosanna, was immediately impressed and accepted Mike's offer. However, when Worldwide made an offer that same day, Emma's daughter, Meg, convinced Emma to listen to both offers. The head of Worldwide was none other than Paul Ryan—Jennifer's brother and Meg's former fiancé. Remembering how Paul had hurt Jennifer, Mike took an immediate dislike to Paul and distrusted him. However, he was forced to work with Paul, when it was decided that both companies pull their resources. In the meantime, Mike went to Katie, apologized for walking out on their marriage and asked her to give their relationship another chance. However, a lot had happened in the year that he was gone and, at this point, Katie was committed to staying with Brad Snyder. Though Katie insisted that she had moved on after he left, Mike didn't listen and pressured Katie by suggesting that she wasn't really over him. Though Katie pleaded with Mike to let her go, he was adamant about changing her mind and, finally, kissed her. However, Katie rejected him and, ultimately, wound up marrying Brad. Seeing no reason to stay in town, Mike made plans to leave. However, Meg pleaded with him to stay. Although Mike assured her that he would find a suitable replacement to oversee the project. Meg argued that he was the one that she and her mother trusted. As the weeks went by, Mike's friendship with Meg deepened.

At the same time, Paul was desperate to get Meg back, but she was reluctant since she'd been hurt before. Mike continually warned Meg about Paul, and even went so far to convince Meg to seek a restraining order against Paul when it seemed that Paul was harassing her. While Meg was enjoying Mike's company, Paul was enjoying the company of the younger Sofie Duran, with Meg catching the two in the act of making love. Meg was devastated but for Mike, this reinforced what he thought about Paul. Later, Mike got caught up in Sofie's intrigue when she confessed to him that Paul had raped her. Despite Sofie's request that the police not be involved, Mike told Margo. He also told Meg but she refused to believe it and wholeheartedly supported Paul. Though Paul was charged with rape, Sofie later admitted that she'd lied. Afterwards, Sofie informed Mike that she was pregnant with Paul's baby. When Mike proved skeptical, Sofie produced a sonogram. Mike immediately went to Meg and told her the news. Not long after, Sofie mysteriously disappeared. Concerned, since Sofie had no valid reason to leave town, Mike went to Fairwinds to get answers from Paul. Paul denied knowing Sofie's whereabouts, which made Mike even more suspicious since she was seemingly the mother of Paul's child. The existence of a newly planted rose garden on Paul's property caught Mike's interest. Immediately suspecting foul play, Mike went to Jack with his suspicion. Though there was no real evidence, Jack questioned Paul and Meg. Unfortunately, their answers failed to put his mind at ease and Jack decided to ask for a search warrant to dig up the rose garden. Though Paul attempted to transport Sofie's body once more, he was caught in the act by Jack and promptly arrested for Sofie's murder. Weeks later, Paul was exonerated when it was discovered that Sofie's old lover, Cole, was the one who killed her.

Soon after, Mike discovered something startling—the Snyder land was contaminated. Due to the vast amount of contaminated soil, the company that Mike worked for backed out of the housing project. Unfortunately, without that money, Emma was in serious danger of losing her home. Determined to save the Snyder farm, Paul decided to fund the contraction project himself. Wanting to help the Snyders, Mike stayed behind to help with the housing project. Though Mike argued that contamination was so vast that clean up would be extremely expensive, Paul went ahead with the project anyway. While working on the project, Mike renewed his friendship with Lily who was in the middle of a painful separation from Holden. Feeling hurt and rejected, Lily came on to Mike. Though Mike initially turned Lily down since he felt she was too vulnerable, he later gave in and the pair made love. From that point, the pair slowly entered into a romantic relationship. As time went by, Mike bonded with Lily and her children. Unfortunately, the development deal went south do to lack of funds. With no reason to remain in Oakdale, Mike quickly left again.

A year later, after Brad's death, Jack went searching for Mike and was surprise to discover that Mike had a wife and money problems. Desperate for money, Mike entered a car race. However, Jack insisted that Mike was too jittery to drive in the race. Jack knocked Mike out, and substituted himself in the race. Carly arrived, but she and Mike couldn't deter Jack, who miraculously went on to win the race.