In 1973, a 10 year-old Tad Martin was pushed out of the car and abandoned by his evil father, Ray Gardner, in a park near Pine Valley. In 1975, Ruth and Joe Martin became his legal guardians until his natural parents could be located. Ray Gardner came back to Pine Valley to "sell" Tad for $15,000 to the Martins. They refused, he raped Ruth, she pressed charges and Ray went to jail. In 1978, Tad officially became a Martin. In 1981, Tad was a troubled pot-smoking teen who stole to support his habit. After wrecking the family car, Tad ran away from home.

Tad returned to Pine Valley in 1983, a much wiser and street smart con artist. His first affairs were with the young, innocent Liza Colby and her man-eating mother, Marian (simultaneously). In 1984, Tad was paid to date Dottie Thornton by her mother, Edna Thornton. While thus ensnared, he met and fell in love with the adorably sweet, Hillary Wilson. Upon learning this, Dottie quit her birth control and became pregnant with Tad's child. Hillary convinced Tad to "do the right thing" and marry Dottie. Dottie had a miscarriage, unbeknownst to Tad, while Hillary married Tad’s best friend. In 1986, Tad finally got his act together. He married the then-single Hillary, but she soon divorced him when she learned of his knowledge of the Wade Matthews scam on her Aunt Phoebe. Once again, Tad left town in disgrace.

When Tad returned in 1988, he had a brief affair with Barbara Montgomery, after which he met and fell in love with little southern innocent Dixie Cooney, whom he rescued from the evil Adam Chandler. They were married and Dixie was finally "the love of Tad's life". Opal and Palmer (Tad’s mother and Dixie’s uncle, respectively), however, were not content to let the love-birds live a happy life, and set about breaking them up. Palmer paid a woman to say she had slept with Tad; when Dixie heard this, she separated from him. Reeling from the loss of Dixie, Tad fell into bed with his old friend Brooke. When Dixie learned of his tryst with Brooke, she divorced him. Tad and Dixie reunited, however, after Tad rescued Dixie from nutcase Billy Clyde Tuggle, who wanted Dixie as his bride, and had kidnapped her when she turned him down. Plans were made for their second wedding, but on the day of the wedding, Tad and Billy Clyde got into a fight(Billy Clyde had a bomb), and they both tumbled off a bridge and into the raging river. Only Billy Clyde’s body was ever found. Dixie and Brooke were both devastated by his death, especially since Brooke learned she was carrying Tad’s child.

In 1992, an amnesiac Tad returned, believing himself to be a vineyard owner from Napa Valley, Ted Orsini. With Brooke's help, Tad regained his memory. Although he was still in love with Dixie, Tad married Brooke, wanting to be a good father. Tad and Brooke soon divorced and in 1994, he remarried his true love, Dixie. All was well until 1996, when old flame Liza Colby returned to Pine Valley. While Tad and Dixie’s marriage was going through a particularly rough spot, Tad slept with Liza. When Dixie found out about their one night stand, she divorced Tad, left Pine Valley(with son Junior), and moved back to Pigeon Hollow. With Dixie gone, Tad found himself lusting after Gloria Marsh while still "feeling something" for Liza Colby.

Tad was in for heartache - Liza married Adam and Gloria married Dimitri, and Tad was left with no one. Suffering from multiple-rebound-itis, Tad became fixated on a woman he first saw in a heavenly shadow. Tad finally learned her identity, and befriended Camille, but she was killed in the explosion that destroyed Holiday’s. Tad was upset by his friend’s death, but in the wake of the explosion, his one true love, Dixie, returned to town.

For months, Tad and Dixie danced around their feelings for each other, but it wasn’t until they chased Palmer to New York City that their emotions got the best of them, and they kissed. During their time in New York, Tad and Dixie confronted their past, and decided to move on with their lives. They decided that if they were ready to re-commit to each other, they would meet on the roof of the Stadtler building in 24 hours, a la "An Affair to Remember." Tad was the only one to show up on the roof, and as a result, believed that Dixie had stood him up and no longer loved him. When he heard from Adam that Dixie had gone to Paris, his fears were confirmed. Or so he thought. In truth, Dixie had fallen ill with kidney failure, and had been too sick to meet Tad. Dixie’s kidneys got better, but she developed a heart condition, and, not wanting to worry Tad, decided to keep her illness a secret. Tad, devastated by the loss of Dixie once again, went into a tailspin, trying to return to his Tad the Cad ways. However, Dixie possessed all of his heart, and his attempts at dating all failed miserably. Tad started to pick up on Dixie’s strange behavior, and finally learned her secret. Tad then whisked her away to New York. Once there, he declared his undying love for her, and proposed. Dixie accepted, of course, and they are now simply enjoying the pleasure of each other’s company.

It turned out that Dixie wasn’t the only person in Tad’s life who was keeping a secret—it was recently revealed that Tad has a younger half-brother, Adrian (who is half black, much to Tad’s surprise), the result of Opal’s love affair with Frank Dawson, a black man. Tad and Adrian took a instant dislike to each other when they first came face-to-face months ago (not knowing that they were brothers), and Tad is doing his best to get to known this long-lost, newly found addition to his ever-growing family.