Chris Brooks was one of four daughters of Stuart Brooks, the well-to-do owner/publisher of the Genoa City Chronicle, and his wife Jennifer. Chris' oldest sister, Leslie, an accomplished pianist, was very introverted and dateless because music had consumed her entire life. Next was Lauralee, who went by the name Lorie, and was going to college in Paris where she led a life of sex and drugs with Brock Reynolds, the son of Genoa City's wealthy Katherine Chancellor. Chris' younger sister, 16-year-old red-headed Peggy, was still in high school.

19-year-old Chris, an idealistic college student who worked at the Chronicle with her father, was a caring and thoughtful young woman. Chris began dating 21-year-old Snapper Foster, son of Liz Foster who worked hard at her menial job on a factory assembly line at Chancellor Industries ever since her husband Bill had abandoned her and her young children seven years earlier. Snapper's birth name was William Jr., but he was called "Snapper" after his "snappish" personality. Snapper was putting himself through medical school with a part-time job, and as the "man of the family" contributed to younger brother Greg's law school, and kept a big-brotherly eye on his 18-year-old sister, Jill, who worked as a shampoo girl and manicurist to help support them all.

Although Snapper's excuses were mostly legitimate that he had been on-call or fallen asleep due to his long hours, Stuart noticed how often Chris had been hurt and disappointed by Snapper so he opposed the relationship. While Chris was saving herself for their marriage to be held after Snapper graduated from medical school, Stuart found out that Snapper was sleeping with Sally McGuire, a waitress at Pierre's Restaurant. Stuart told his daughter that Snapper was cheating on her. Chris did not believe him, so she moved out of the family home, and went to work at Snapper's brother Greg's new law office. But when Chris discovered that Stuart was paying her salary, she quit, which disappointed Greg, who had also fallen in love with her and had proposed.

While job-hunting, Chris met George Curtis when she stopped for a hamburger at a singles bar. George offered to walk her home and raped her. Months later Chris became willing to make love with Snapper, but memories of the rape wouldn't let her. Snapper was understanding and supportive, but he still had Sally on the side. With Snapper's encouragement, Chris was finally able to file charges against her attacker. But on the witness stand Chris was made to look like she had not resisted, and Curtis was set free. Even more determined to stand by Chris, Snapper broke up with Sally and proposed to Chris. It was a long time before Chris finally accepted.

Just after Sally found out that she was pregnant, she discovered that Chris and Snapper were engaged, and attempted suicide. Liz found out about the pregnancy which Sally had planned to trap her son, and convinced Sally not to interfere with her son's budding career and impending marriage, and to marry her boss Pierre who was in love with her. Sally and Pierre were married with him knowing that Snapper was her baby's father, but Pierre was killed in a robbery of the restaurant before the baby was born. Sally's baby was named Pierre Charles after her husband, but was called "Chuckie".

Although Snapper had overheard the conversation between Sally and his mother, and knew that he was Sally's baby's father, he and Chris were married. Chris's sister Lorie even returned from Europe for the wedding. Chris and Snapper worked through Chris's sexual problems and happily lived in a small apartment. Not long afterward, Chris became pregnant but had a miscarriage when she found out about Chuckie, and Chris and Snapper separated for a time. Chris accepted a job as a social worker working for Greg, who was now with Legal Aide. But after Sally sold Pierre's restaurant to Leslie Brooks and moved to Chicago, Chris and Snapper reconciled.

At legal aide, Chris was assigned to help Ron and Nancy Becker, and their young daughter Karen. Chris' sister, Peggy, was raped, and Peggy identified her attacker as Ron. Chris urged Peggy to file charges, Ron was arrested, but the was not convinced beyond reasonable doubt and Ron was found "not guilty". When Nancy discovered evidence that proved Ron was actually guilty, she became catatonic, and was committed to a mental hospital. Since Chris was having trouble getting pregnant, and she wanted to save Karen from living with her rapist father, she and Snapper convinced Ron to give them custody of Karen. But after Nancy recovered, Karen was returned to Nancy's custody. Chris was so devastated that she separated from Snapper and left town. Months later, Chris returned to find that Snapper was involved with Dr. Casey Reed. Chris and Casey met each other at the clinic and told Snapper that he had to choose between them. When Snapper could not choose, Casey bowed out to let them give their marriage another chance, and Chris and Snapper reconciled.

In 1977, Chris' mother, Jennifer, died of a heart attack. A year passed, and Stuart began spending time with Snapper's mother, Liz Foster, who had also recently lost her spouse. Although Stuart was quite taken with Liz, she felt that she was not of his class, and she avoided becoming romantically involved. But Stuart and Liz eventually were married, although Liz was daunted by her new life as the wife of a successful newspaper publisher. On the same day as their parent's wedding, Snapper and Chris had a baby girl, Jennifer Elizabeth Foster, named after both grandmothers.

In 1982, Snapper left Genoa City to accept a three-month fellowship teaching and research opportunity in London, but Chris refused to give up her new modeling career at Jabot Cosmetics. Not long afterward, Chris realized her place was with Snapper, and she and her daughter joined him in London. Liz, Stuart, and Greg moved to London as well by the end of the year.

Chris was only seen again when she and her sisters returned to Genoa City to attend the wedding of Victor Newman and Nikki Reed in 1984.

Later in 1984, Liz returned to Genoa City a widow, with no mention of how or when Stuart had died. But in 1986, Liz returned to London and moved in with Chris and Snapper where she devoted herself to helping to raise her granddaughter, Jennifer, who had two hard-working parents. Liz died in Genoa City surrounded by her reunited children, on June 18, 2010; the cause of death being Wegener's disease, a rare, autoimmune disease.

In 2019, Jack and Traci Abbott while doing research to write the Abbott Family memoirs, discovered that Stuart Brooks and their mother Dina had a one night stand in high school which produced a baby boy. Apparently Stuart never knew since Dina went abroad for a year, and the baby was adopted by Margaret and Ralph Vanderway in Chicago. They named him Eric. Eric grew up to be a union delegate for the teamsters, had a family, but died from a heart attack when his son Theo was 15 years old. Theo landed in Genoa City as an adult. The Abbott family was shocked to find out that Theo was family, and DNA proved it. They gave him contact information for his half-aunts Leslie, Chris and Peggy.