Sami wanted to steal Austin from her big sister Carrie. She put her plan into effect, vowing revenge after Carrie's plan to set up Sami's rapist, Alan, failed, and he was freed. At first, Sami stole Austin's attention by claiming that Alan was stalking her. Eventually, Alan did stalk Sami and confront her. That confrontation led to Sami shooting Alan in the groin. Sami turned to Lucas and slept with him. Austin walked in on them and mistook Sami for Carrie. Taking advantage of Austin's inability to recognize his girlfriend, Sami drugged Austin, tricked him into thinking she was Carrie - again - and made love to him. Once Austin realized what he had done, he rejected Sami. She ran away. Meanwhile Carrie and Austin got engaged. Lucas, who wanted Carrie for himself, convinced Sami to return to Salem in time to stop the wedding. She appeared at the ceremony and fainted, then revealed that she was carrying Austin's child. Austin soon married Sami instead.

Sami so effectively shook up Austin and Carrie's relationship that by the time the truth came out... that Lucas and not Austin was the father of her child... the romance had just about died. Carrie finally did tie the knot with Austin in 1997, but eventually she fell in love with Mike Horton. In fact, she left Austin for Mike. Austin, desparate to have a family, turned to Sami. Finally, Austin, sick of Sami's lies, dumped her at the altar and left Salem for New York.

Franco tells Roberto he's confident that he'll be able to get Sami to secure a marriage license before his INS hearing. When he asks Sami, she says no way: She wants to enjoy her engagement. Trapped, Franco calls Roberto and asks him to come to City Hall. Lucas overhears the conversation and follows Franco. Meanwhile, Austin stops by to see Will. Sami presses him for dirt on Mike.

At City Hall, a lurking Lucas spies Roberto hand Franco a document. Lucas then follows Franco, but loses him in the building. At Franco's hearing, the judge orders him to leave the country. Franco's lawyer suddenly produces a marriage license, which is forged. The judge allows Franco to stay in the country, with a caveat: If the marriage turns out to be illegal, Franco and his bride will be prosecuted. Sami keeps her engagement a secret from Austin, deciding to wait until the Brady/Horton barbecue to announce her news.

Kate...always looking for a way to ruin Sami's life...met one of Franco's mob friends, Roberto. After talking to him, she realized that he was using Sami to stay in the US. She decided that Franco & Sami's wedding day would be the perfect time to announce the truth.

Meanwhile, Austin became suspicious of Franco. He went to Franco's hotel room. Franco was supposed to be there getting ready for the wedding...but when Austin arrived, he heard Franco in bed with a woman named Candy. Austin rushed to the Kiriakis mansion, where the wedding was supposed to take place, to tell Sami. When she learned the truth, she took her veil off, and ran out of the guest house screaming that she was going to kill Franco.

Meanwhile...Kate told Franco that she knew the truth, and told him that she was going to spill the beans to Sami. She picked up the phone to call the police, and Franco grabbed a fire poker. He nearly hit Kate over the head with it, but Lucas shot him before he got the chance. Sami came in, and blacked out after seeing Franco laying on the ground. In a panic, and determined to "save" her son, Kate wiped the fingerprints off the gun, and placed it in Sami's hand. Sami was convicted of murder, and sentenced to death.

While on death row, Sami continued to try to clear her name. She also urged Austin to stay with Carrie so that they'd be able to get custody of Will. She was heartbroken when Lucas & Nicole were given custody instead. She took matters into her own hands, and faked a panic attack. She was rushed to the hospital, where she poisoned a guard and stole his uniform. She escaped, took Will, and went to Canada. Austin went with her.

Roman convinced her to return to Salem and try to prove her innocence...but once she was in custody, the DA convinced the judge to order that her execution begin immediately. Sami had only 24 hours left!

Meanwhile...Roman began questioning Roberto about the murder. Kate injected Roberto with a coma-inducing injection of saline before he could say anything. When he DID wake up, she blackmailed him into taking the fall for Franco's murder. It worked...he called the police and confessed.

Back at the prison, Sami was strapped down while her friends and family watched in the background. She was injected with lethal drugs. Suddenly, Lucas burst through the doors and confessed! At the same time, the governor called to stop the execution...and Marlena announced that Roberto had confessed!

Sami went into cardiac arrest, but was revived. The charges against her were dropped. Lucas recanted his confession. Roberto, who had died after he confessed, was left holding the bag.

=====

"Unbeknownst to Sami, Lucas and Kate see her behaving very flirtatiously with this guy and see her kiss him on the cheek," says Alison Sweeney. "But she's just trying to get information from him to destroy Kate! She's shocked that Lucas is even there."

And that he thinks she would be unfaithful! "Of all Sami's shortcomings and problems, cheating is not one of them," Sweeney points out. "She would never cheat on him. I think it floors her that he hasn't caught on that obviously there's a scheme. She can't tell him what the scheme is, because it's about Kate, but she can't believe he would think she would cheat on him with some random, sketchy guy from a bar!" Sami tries to explain her side to Lucas, to no avail. He leaves her and heads home.

"She is horrified that she's made him feel insecure about their relationship," says the actress. Later, Will plots to get his parents back together by pulling the smoke alarm in their apartment building. "Sami freaks out and crashes into Lucas's apartment and he's half-naked," says Sweeney. They realize what their son has done. "In a way, I love that, because it's so just deserts that Lucas and Sami have a scheming kid," grins the actress.

By week's end, Sami will get her just deserts when Lucas flirts with another woman at the opening of Alice's restaurant. "Sami is very jealous," nods Sweeney. "In some ways, she's very insecure, and when Lucas is flirting with a beautiful woman, Sami doesn't think that she has a lot to compete with that." So? "She uses dirty tricks to get her out of the picture!" laughs Sweeney.

A: She's not like a Dimera in that she's not out for power or money, she just wants to be happy and for someone to love her. She will do anything to get it." - Allison Sweeney (Sami)