In April 1976, attorney, Mike Bauer represented Ann Jeffers in a divorce and custody case. Ann was a hostess at Roger Thorpe's club, The Metro who hired Mike to search for her son, Jimmy. Ann told Mike that her husband, Spence, was a violent drunk who kidnapped their son Jimmy several years earlier and she had been searching for them ever since. To help Ann to find her son, Mike made two trips to Redding, California, where he met a man named Clint Pearson who warned him to stop the investigation. Ann suspected that Clint was in fact Spence himself. Soon Ann would discover that she was right-- Clint was really Spence. Spence told Ann that he had remarried and stated that Jimmy had drowned in an accident in Alaska. However, Mike didn't believe him since there were no police records of a Jimmy Jeffers in Alaska, Mike phoned Spence and threatened to sue him for bigamy unless he told them Jimmy's whereabouts within a week. Later, Spence arrived in Springfield, threatened Ann and still claimed that Jimmy was dead. The following day, Spence visited Mike in his home and a vicious fight ensued with Mike hitting his head against a table and losing consciousness. A panicked Spence ran away but hit Mike’s wife, Leslie, with his car as she was returning home. Spence fled the scene Ann, who saw the whole fight, called for help and Mike and Leslie were rushed to Cedars. Unfortunately, while Mike recovered, Leslie died. A distraught Mike wanted to find Spence and later learned that Spence had killed a man during a fight in a bar in Juneau, Alaska and had skipped bail. Later, Ann disappeared and Spence’s car was found at Bald Mountain. Mike quickly realized that Spence had kidnapped Ann to Bald Mountain and rushed there. Meanwhile, Spence was tired of hiding and, after Mike arrived, he remorsefully confessed to his crimes. Spence stated that the death of the man had been an accident and said that he hadn't seen Leslie during his escape. Mike told him that he could get a lesser sentence and Spence finally gave up and told Ann about Jimmy's whereabouts in Juneau, where he lived with the family of David Rustin. Ann located Jimmy and let him stay with his family, while Spence went to prison. Afterwards, Mike hired Ann as his secretary.

Later, when Elizabeth Spaulding threw Diane Ballard, her son's nanny, out of the Spaulding mansion, Diane sought refuge from Ann. Ann, depressed after losing custody of her son, Jimmie, decided that she and Diane could support each other emotionally and she became Diane’s friend and confidant. Ann even encouraged Diane to seek the job as Alan Spaulding's Office Assistant. Ann also allowed Diane to stay at her place for a few months in late 1977, early 1978. However, that didn’t last though, because Diane moved out after starting an affair with Alan Spaulding. Although she dated a series of men, including Dr. Justin Marler, Ross Marler and Andy Norris, none of these dates ever turned serious. Ann though still carried a torch for Mike and really wanted him to come to her and carry her away romantically and out of Springfield. However, Mike never saw Ann as more than anything but a friend.

During all of this, Ann continued to be a very dutiful and faithful Office Assistant, actually winning a couple of awards with how well she ran Mike's law office. Unfortunately, she could be a bit of a gossip monger. One day, while chatting with Diane, Ann accidentally let slip that Mike suspected that Roger Thorpe had affidavits that would prove that Alan Spaulding hired Ramon de Vilar to lie about his affair with Elizabeth during the custody case for Phillip and that Dr. Paul La Crosse had been hired by Alan to switch Elizabeth's dead baby with Jackie Marler's live one, Phillip. Upon hearing this, Diane went to Roger Thorpe's apartment and stole the documents! In late 1980, when Mike represented Jennifer Richards for killing Lucille Wexler, Ann was not too thrilled with how much attention Mike was paying to Jennifer and made no secret of her dislike of Jennifer and Jennifer's daughter, Morgan. Ann’s attitude some strain on her and Mike’s working relationship.

Finally, any hopes of a lasting relationship with Mike were dashed in 1983 when Mike came across Dinah who had been injured in a after slipping on some ice. Unfortunately, for Ann, during the two months it took Diane to recover, Diane took advantage of Mike's good will and allowed him to carry things for her, on more than one occasion and then hinted to Ann that the platonic friendship she had developed with Mike might be something more. Realizing that Mike would never be attracted to her, Ann accepted Ross Marler's job offer to work for him at Los Tres Amigos. Unfortunately, the new cat and cat games between Ann and Diane were just getting started! When Eve Stapleton, was being stalked, Diane actually accused Ann of being Eve's stalker, which wasn't true. Then, Ann started dating Diane's former lover, P.I. Joe Bradley; it actually went as far for Ann as Joe Bradley becoming the first man that Ann took to bed since her deceased former husband, Spence Jeffers. Of course, Diane promptly stole Joe back from Ann. Soon after, Diane was murdered! Not realizing that Carrie Todd was the killer, Ann innocently told Carrie where Joe Bradley's hotel room was. Not long after, Joe Bradley ended up dead!

Later, Ann was reunited with her son, James. James, now a young adult, had run away from his aunt and uncle and eventually, Ann and James left Springfield and relocated back to Phoenix, Arizona.