Emily is a feisty young lifeguard that's new to Sunset Beach. Her reason for coming to Sunset Beach was to see her mother, Bette, who she hadn't seen in nearly two years. But Emily decided to avoid contact with her mother after she had gone to see her mother at her job. Several of the people at Bette's office laughed Emily out of the office with tales of why Bette is called Queen of the Night. On the cruise, Emily finally got the chance to confront Bette with her feelings about how she saw Bette in her life as a mother. The two talked and are now back to being mother and daughter; Emily even agreed to move into the beach house with Bette so that their relationship could mend faster.

Emily decided to attend UCLA. But shortly after, she planned on leaving UCLA for the University of Conneticut because of a fake e-mail sent to her. She believed that Sean had sent the e-mail because of the argument they got into over her telling Bette about his rapping.

Of course, Sean managed to stop her from leaving by explaining to her that Amy and Brad sent the fake e-mail. Now Sean and Emily are back together, and being romantic as ever with each other.