Dashing Duncan McKechnie came to Oakdale to keep his wife, Shannon O'Hara, from marrying another man. Apparently Duncan and Shannon married years ago on a drunken lark and went their separate ways without consummating the marriage. Now older, Duncan was determined to hold on to his wife and continually blocked her attempts to get a divorce. As the months wore on, it became apparent that Shannon wasn't his only reason for being in Oakdale: he was also there to investigate reports that international criminal James Stenbeck was alive. Apparently James smuggled drugs into the shipments of jewels that Duncan was sending home and Duncan wanted him apprehended. In the course of the investigation, Shannon and her fiancé discovered a startling secret: Beatrice, the woman Duncan claimed was his sister, was actually his daughter! Growing closer to him, Shannon convinced him to tell Beatrice the truth. Soon after, Duncan and Shannon realized they had deep feelings for one another and they married in a beautiful Scottish ceremony.

The couple was happy until Duncan's first wife, Lilith, arrived on the scene. A mentally disturbed woman, Lilith tried to kill Shannon. Though he sent Shannon away for her safety, Lilith found her and sent Duncan her shrunken head: confirmation that Shannon was dead. While grieving for his beloved, Duncan grew closer to his friend, Jessica Griffin. As time went by, the couple fell in love and, despite objections from family and friends over an interracial marriage, the pair married and had a daughter, Bonnie Louise.

Years later, Duncan received the shock of his life when Shannon returned to town! Shocked that his beloved was alive and suffering from amnesia, Duncan was uncertain about how to proceed. Though he told Jessica he'd honor their vows, it was evident that he was still drawn to Shannon and so Jess granted him a divorce. Unfortunately, in the years that Shannon was missing, she and Duncan had grown and they discovered that they'd grown apart and went their separate ways. A single man again, Duncan left Oakdale to do some reporting in Bosnia. A few years later, he moved to Europe and took Bonnie with him.