Twenty years ago, the Thompson family maid mistakenly injected Albert Thompson's newborn daughter with sleeping potion, thinking it was a nutrient supplement! This caused the baby to suffer respiratory failure with risk of death. Terrified of taking responsibility, the maid found another infant girl to replace her and abandoned the Thompson baby deep in the mountains. Miraculously, the child survived. She was discovered and rescued by Cora Matthews, who had come to bury her own stillborn child. Cora raised the girl as her own daughter, naming her Peyton Matthews. Twenty years later, Peyton Matthews began working at the Thompson Group. However, due to her poverty, she became a target for Moly Thompson, the daughter of the very maid who had replaced her all those years ago. Moly Thompson falsely accused Peyton of theft, humiliated her, and systematically tormented her.
