Gwen Hotchkiss is the only child of Jonathan and Rebecca Hotchkiss. Because there is no Hotchkiss son, Gwen has always been pressured to take over Hotchkiss industries when the time comes. When she was 12 years old and away at school, Gwen met a young man at a boarding school mixer...Ethan Winthrop. She had no way of knowing that their families had always hoped that she and Ethan would get together someday. The two went on to attend the same boarding school (Choate Rosemary), and separate universities, all the while in love with each other and assuming they would marry.

After Ethan graduated law school, Gwen convinced him that he should move back to Harmony to be with his family. The two returned to town, and immediately Ethan was the victim of numerous 'accidents', wherein things were dumped on his head. Gwen struck up a friendship with his mother's helper, Theresa Lopez-Fitzgerald, and both she and Ethan were shocked to learn that Theresa was the one behind the accidents. Gwen became suspicious of Theresa's obsession with Ethan and called her on it. When confronted, Theresa suddenly produced a boyfriend named Chuck. Gwen immediately apologized for her suspicions, and felt horrible.

When Theresa came to them, crying, telling them that Chuck had dumped her because her family didn't have any money, Gwen felt horrible for her friend, especially since she herself had just gotten engaged to Ethan after a few false starts. She and Ethan asked Theresa to be their wedding planner. Even though there were numerous 'close calls', Gwen kept believing Theresa's vows of friendship to both her and Ethan. Finally, though, Gwen could deny the truth no longer when Ethan called off their wedding because of Theresa. She felt doubly betrayed because all along, Theresa had been pretending to be their friend.

Realising Theresa had been playing dirty all along, Gwen realised that if she wanted to be with the man she loved, she had to compete with Theresa by playing dirty herself. But first, she wanted to get back at Theresa for stabbing her in the back and destroying her relationship. She went to the Lopez-Fitzgerald house, and began swinging around a baseball bat. In a fit of rage and pain, she tried to choke the life out of Theresa, but Theresa fought her off. Later, she suggested both of them date Ethan to allow him to decide, but she's not willing to sit back and let Theresa scheme her way into Ethan's life. Even though she doesn't want to fight dirty, her mother has convinced her that she needs to fight for the man she loves.

Things hit a low note when Ethan asked Gwen (they were still engaged at the time) to accompany him to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve -- he had promised to tell the two girls which one he chose. He led her to believe that she was the choice, but in front of everyone in the Church, with his ring still on her finger, he proposed to Theresa. The next day, Gwen went to him and broke off their engagement, returning his ring. She wasn't ready to give up though. When she and her mother discovered that Theresa knew that Ethan was Sam Bennett's son and kept it quiet, it was just more proof that she was after the Crane fortune. Rebecca e-mailed the information to the tabloids, but it didn't work out quite as planned when Theresa insisted she still loved Ethan. Gwen is having second thoughts about taking part in her mother's plans because no matter how much she wants Ethan, she loves him and wants to see him happy...even though he dissed and dismissed her like yesterday's garbage.