Rose D'Angelo's life was changed forever the day she was contacted by Lily Snyder on the Internet. Lily was looking for information about an old photo that she had; Rose then contacted her and revealed that although she knew nothing about the woman in the photo, she had the same one in her family's belongings. Realizing that there had to be a connection, the two women agreed to meet in Atlantic City. Then another shock: Rose and Lily looked almost exactly alike! Believing that they were somehow related, the two women started talking but unfortunately, Rose knew nothing of her family history; only that her mother was dead and left her a small box of belongings. Lily then told Rose that she believed they were both descendants of a woman called Beloved who had been given a diamond by her lover before disappearing. Lily then went on to say that she believed Rose had the diamond. Though Rose balked at the idea (if her family had anything valuable they would have sold it a long time ago), she was later shocked to discover that the diamond her mother had told her was paste was real!

There was just one obstacle to Rose becoming a rich woman and that was Simon Frasier, who claimed that since his great-grandfather gave Beloved the diamond, it belonged to him! Though attracted to Simon's good looks and charm, Rose decided to trust Lily instead and they both decided to throw Simon off track by switching places. So with some hair dye to color her red hair, and some scissors, Rose D'Angelo, a flashy showgirl with a New Jersey accent became the genteel Lily Snyder from the Midwest. The plan worked until Simon confronted both women and shots rang out. Scared, Lily told Rose to escape to Oakdale and she would meet her there with the diamond. Luckily, Rose did make it to Oakdale. Knowing that Lily would be home soon, she bided her time and enjoyed the good life letting everyone believe that she was Lily. Unfortunately, as the days went on it was harder to keep up the charade especially since Lily's husband, Holden, was in an amorous mood. Soon, Rose began to suspect that Lily took the diamond and ran off with Simon. Angry, Rose decided to run off with some of Lily's money only to learn that she had to wait three weeks for the money to be liquidated. Biding her time again Rose continued to fool everyone except for one Katie Peretti. Desperate not to be discovered, Rose made Katie a deal: if she kept her mouth shut, Rose would make sure Katie got Holden. However, soon after the deal was made, Katie embarrassed "Lily" by displaying a nude painting of her at Holden's birthday party. Furious at Katie for making a fool of her and callously hurting Holden in front of everyone, Rose vowed to enact revenge.

As a part of her revenge, Rose began getting close to Holden (to make Katie jealous). However, soon she found herself falling in love with him! Not wanting to hurt Holden, she carried on the masquerade and the two made love. Just when it seemed that Rose would get everything she ever wanted, her ruse was discovered by Lucinda, Lily's adopted mother. Exposed, Rose was forced to confess and was sent to jail. Luckily, Rose's jail time was cut short when it was discovered that she was actually Lily's TWIN SISTER!! Apparently, Lily's mother, Iva, had unknowingly given birth to two babies. Rose was the firstborn, but she was sickly and so the second child (Lily) was given to Lucinda Guest (later Walsh) for adoption and Rose was placed in an orphanage until she was adopted by the D'Angelo family.

Rose and Lily's first months as sisters were not easy. As Holden and Lily were estranged, Holden slowly began to appreciate Rose for her own qualities, and the two became lovers. Needless to say, Lily wasn't thrilled. Eventually, Holden and Lily drifted toward each other again. Rose tried a few minor schemes to keep them apart, but realized she couldn't. As much as it hurt her, she accepted that Holden's life was with Lily. Rose and Lily then became much closer. Rose began working at Worldwide, and single-handedly saved the company from Craig Montgomery's takeover attempts several different times. Finally, after the pain of Bryant's death shook them all, Lucinda acknowledged her efforts with a promotion.

In spring 2001, Rose bumped into Paul Ryan in the airport, as he was returning to town after his mother nearly died in a boathouse explosion. Rose fell in lust at first sight. She helped him as he tried to keep Craig away from BRO (Barbara Ryan Originals), and as he tried to prove Craig's guilt in the explosion. Craig was ultimately exonerated, but Paul was grateful to Rose for her help. He constantly reassured her that her brassy ways were endearing, not disgraceful, and they were a part of the reason why he cared so much about her. In him, Rose found a man who could love her for herself, not who she looked like. Unfortunately, Paul's mother, Barbara, hated Rose from first sight, and tried everything she could to break them up. She even blackmailed Rose by uncovering her past a call girl, but Rose told Paul. When Paul told her it didn't matter, she turned the tables on Barbara, threatening to spill her dirty plans to Paul unless she left their relationship alone. Barbara complied, at least temporarily. Rose and Paul became lovers.

In the meantime, Rose grew closer to her biological mother, Iva. She and her father Joe D'Angelo were estranged for years after her mother's death, but mended their differences after reuniting in 2000. Joe moved to Oakdale for about a year, but returned to Hoboken, New Jersey in fall 2001. Then one day, Rose's ex-boyfriend, Vince, dropped back into her life. A series of events convinced Paul that Rose still had feelings for Vince and the pair broke up. Knowing that someone (possibly Barbara or Lucinda) was behind everything, Rose agreed to meet Vince to discuss the situation and, unbeknownst to everyone, she promptly disappeared. Unbeknownst to everyone in Oakdale, Rose awoke in a strange spa with no memory of how she got there. To her surprise, Rose found that she wasn't the only Oakdale resident present: Emily Stewart and Carly Tenney were also there. With Carly drugged, it was up to Rose and Emily to find a way out. Unfortunately the pair was separated and Rose was sent to the "next level." To her horror the next level involved her being wrapped in a cocoon for hours on end. Scared out of her mind, Rose was befriended by a kindly old nurse named Libby who, after two months of captivity, helped her escape by shipping her out in a coffin. However, while most coffins were shipped back to the States, this one was marked for immediate burial! Hours later, Rose awoke to find that she was being buried alive. Getting the gravedigger's attention, she was able to explain that she was not a ghost and found a way to call Paul.

Not long after, Rose returned to Oakdale on Lucinda's jet, her nightmare over. Or so she thought. Hours after returning to town, Rose found that she'd suddenly aged thirty years! Disgusted with her looks, Rose turned away from Paul. However he refused to let her go again, and told her that he'd get her help and stick by her no matter what. Though Rose feared that the damage to her face would be permanent, Bob Hughes successfully reversed the damage. Soon after, Rose found herself in danger again because of the diamond! After an adventure in war-torn Avannya in which Katie Frasier was almost killed, Rose decided the diamond was more trouble than it was worth and got rid of it by throwing it into the ocean. Following the Avannya adventure, Rose decided to go to New Jersey to take care of her father, Joe. A few months later she returned to Paul, who resented her for not being there for him when he was on trial for murder.

Though the pair was able to work through their problems, they found trouble in the form of Paul's old friend, Dusty Donovan. Very glad to see Dusty, Paul ignored Rose's concerns that he was a less than noble man and welcomed Dusty's friendship. Though Rose's concerns were verified when Dusty kissed her, she was convinced to keep quiet in order to spare Paul. Though she later revealed the truth, it caused a rift between them that only widened due to Rose's efforts to open her own hair salon. Needing a backer, she reluctantly went to Dusty even though Paul told her not to. There was also Barbara to content with. Heeding Lily's advice, Rose gave Paul her blessing to invite his mother to the wedding. Later, however, Rose would participate in a plot to kidnap Barbara in order to secure Carly Tenney was the head designer at Monte Carlo. When Paul learned that not only was Rose involved with his mother's kidnapping, but Barbara hired Dusty to break him and Rose up, he felt betrayed and left Oakdale. Soon after, Rose learned that Paul was presumed dead after his plane went down. Shocked and guilty, Rose found herself leaning on Dusty who she'd begun to see in a different light.

Though Lily tried to convince that Rose that Dusty was trouble after they learned of his involvement with criminal associates in Chicago, by this time, Rose had grown attached to Dusty and was certain that deep down he was a good person. The sisters found themselves in danger when Lily, mistaken for Rose, was kidnapped by Spangler (the man Dusty owed money to) and trapped in a well. Soon after, Rose was taken and trapped also. Luckily, Lily was rescued but Rose, who'd managed to escape, was nowhere to be found. Though Dusty soon found her, they both ended up at the mercy of James Stenbeck's associate, whom James hired to get revenge for his son's death. While Dusty was struggling with Brackett, Rose, tied up with a noose around her neck, almost died until she was suddenly rescued by Paul (although a groggy Rose would think it was an hallucination).

Reuniting with her family, Rose decided to stay away from Dusty, partly in compliance with Lily's wishes and partly because of guilt about Paul. However, Rose chafed under Lily's ultimatum and still continued seeing Dusty, thus alienating herself from Lily. Complicating matters was Paul, who was very much alive and very indifferent toward Rose. Convinced that she never really loved Paul, otherwise she would have married him sooner; Rose stayed away from him and assured Dusty that he was the man she wanted.

However, Rose suddenly became confused when Paul unexpectedly started to become friendly with her. Though she was still committed to Dusty, she started questioning Dusty's fidelity, especially when she saw him flirt with both Molly McKinnon and Paul's sister, Jennifer. Warned by Dusty that Paul was coming between them to get revenge, Rose softened toward Paul after he confessed to planting bugs in Dusty's club in order to discredit him, and win back Rose. Touched by Paul's honesty, Rose went back to Paul, despite Dusty's warnings that he was only using her. She then quickly agreed to marry him and move to Paris. Though she didn't want to leave Oakdale, Paul convinced her that in order to make a fresh start they had to leave the town behind. But Dusty was still convinced that Paul hadn't forgiven Rose, especially when he learned that Paul never bought an apartment in Paris as he claimed to. Though she wanted to believe that Paul was being honest with her, the doubts kept growing -- until a threat was made on her life. Receiving harassing telephone calls, Rose tried to put up a brave front but was clearly spooked, especially when her car was vandalized. Touched when Paul hired a bodyguard for her, Rose started trusting him even more, despite his suspicious behavior (such as initially suggesting they invite the people who hate them to their wedding). During all of this, Dusty .continued to warn her about Paul, telling her that he was mentally disturbed and was trying to isolate her in Paris so that he could hurt her. However, Rose was desperate to believe that she was right about Paul. In addition to the complex relationship with her Paul and Dusty, Rose also had to contend with her best friend Mitzi wanting to buy the beauty salon. Cruelly pointing out that Mitzi had no business sense, Rose refused to back her. Weeks later, Rose was angry to learn that Mitzi, in a pique of anger, had been stealing from her!

Feeling betrayed by her best friend, Rose demanded that Mitzi leave. Not long after, Rose learned that Paul was the one who had been harassing her. Horrified, Rose confronted Paul who admitted to wanting to test her. Confused, Rose went to Lily who, though not condoning what Paul did, encouraged her to give the marriage a try, while Dusty told her to stay away since she was in danger. Not wanting to believe that her love for Paul had been a lie, Rose went through with the wedding. It was on then that Rose found out Paul's true motive. When the minister asked for objections, Paul let loose with a tirade against Rose and totally humiliated her. When Paul left the room, Rose collapsed! Rushed to the hospital, it was learned that she'd been poisoned. Near death, Rose told Lily to find Mitzi and tell her all was forgiven and asked Lily to take care of her. Later, she asked Paul why she did this to her. Though he denied poisoning her, Rose didn't believe him and died. Rose's death completely devastated Lily and, ultimately, put a tremendous rift in her marriage to Holden. Meanwhile, it was discovered that Paul was not the one who poisoned. Rose was poisoned by Paul's young brother, Will, who simply wanted to keep Rose away from Paul.

A few years after Rose's death, a young interracial woman named Jade Taylor arrived in Oakdale claiming to be the daughter Rose put up for adoption. Although Lily was skeptical, she was able to confirm that Rose did have a baby by a black man when she was young and put the baby up for adoption. Ultimately, Jade was that daughter and Lily welcomed the girl into her home.