Wife: Babe Chandler (unknown to JR, they are not legally married)
Children: Ace Buchanan (possible son with Babe Chandler, being raised by Kelly and Kevin Buchanan), Bess Chandler (no biological relation, but JR believes it's his biological daughter)
Mother: Dixie Cooney (deceased)
Father: Adam Chandler, Tad Martin (longtime stepfather, considers him a father)
Siblings: Colby Chandler (half-sister) , Hayley Vaughn Santos (half-sister), Skye Chandler (half-sister; adoptive), Anna Claire Chandler (half-sister; deceased), Jamie Martin (longtime stepbrother, considers him a brother)
Grandfather: Seabone Hunkle
Grandmother: Bess Cooney (deceased)
Uncle: Stuart Chandler, Del Henry, Will Cortlandt (deceased)
Aunt: Lottie Chandler (deceased), Melanie Cortlandt
Great Uncle: Palmer Cortlandt
Cousin: Scott Chandler (adoptive), Ross Chandler
Mother-in-law: Krystal Carey (Unknown to JR, they are not technically in laws)
Significant romantic relationships: Laurie Lewis, Babe Chandler (JR believes they are legally married, even they aren't)

Adam Chandler, Jr. ("JR") was born in 1989 to domineering Adam Chandler and sweet Dixie Cooney. After his only son's birth, Adam became intent on taking JR away from his mother. After an ugly custody battle, however, Dixie won full custody of the boy, leaving Adam even more determined to be a major force in his son's life. This has caused JR more heartache than comfort.

JR soon found himself in the middle of a quadrangle involving David Hayward, Dixie, stepfather Tad and Leslie Coulson. He was kidnapped by Leslie, who was psychotically obsessed with Tad. Tad and Dixie's marriage suffered from the ordeal and they separated, with Dixie taking up with David Hayward. JR took the breakup of his family particularly hard, and began to take drugs.

JR's drug use grew worse. He began loaning money to people so they could get drugs. JR was even arrested when he shoved a cop who wanted to look in his friend's bag which contained drugs. At his court hearing, JR found his mother with David, and immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion. He took off in Adam's car and met up with some friends. Before getting back into the car, JR took some pills. Seeing her younger brother upset and hanging out with the wrong crowd, Hayley got into the car with JR. JR sped off and swerved off the road. At the hospital, Adam covered for JR and said that he had been driving. JR was forced to take a drug test but his friend Sweeney gave him a clean urine sample so the results were negative. The judge issued JR counseling and community service.

Though JR's drug use reached a level where he put stepbrother Jamie, Petey Cortlandt, and even his mother in danger, JR denied that he was an addict. He hit bottom when he found one of his drug dealers, Sweeney, dead at the boathouse. Tad was arrested for the murder, but was eventually released. JR blamed himself for the trouble he had caused Tad and his family, and realized how bad his problem had become.

Reeling from the news that Tad had once again brought Leslie into their lives, JR found comfort with Frankie Stone, who was struggling to deal with her own feelings for Bianca Montgomery. Stoned, the two almost slept together, only to have Bianca walk in on them. With his Uncle Stuart help, JR finally forgave Tad for breaking up their family.

After secretly learning that she was pregnant, Dixie didn't want Tad worrying about her health, and left town, telling JR that she was studying abroad. JR felt guilty, however, thinking that Dixie wanted to get away from the problems he and Tad caused her. Adam, assured JR that his mom loved him. Later, Tad and JR learned that Dixie was pregnant. Before she could get home, Dixie was killed in a car accident. JR broke down and blamed himself.

JR began dating Laurie Lewis, while providing comfort and friendship for lonely Kendall Hart. Laurie tried to keep her distance from JR at first because her family didn't have money and her father, Doug, was an alcoholic who blamed Adam Chandler for all his misfortunes. Knowing Laurie's father's reputation, Adam was adamantly against her and JR's relationship. Adam once again tried to control JR, manipulating his relationship with Laurie and pushing him toward an Ivy League education, though JR was failing high school. JR was finally pushed too far from all sides when he learned that Jamie and Laurie actually kissed. He ran away in March 2003 to join the crew of a tramp steamer.

JR returned to Pine Valley with a new wife, Babe. Believing Babe to be a gold digger, Adam has attempted to break the two up, to no avail thus far. JR was elated when Babe broke the news that she's pregnant!

After months of suspicious behavior, JR was shocked to learn that Babe and Jamie had met before JR introduced Babe to the family. Confronting them, Jamie claimed that he and Babe had slept together. Babe told JR that Jamie had hit on her, but that she has always been committed to him. JR decided to believe his wife, and when Jamie wouldn't negate his claims that he slept with her, JR cut all ties with his brother. JR also learned that his wife had a past---she revealed that she was married before JR, to a man named Paul Cramer (unknown to JR, Babe is still legally married to Paul). More suspicious of Babe than ever, he engineered a meeting between Jamie and Babe where he learned that they had indeed slept together.

Furious, JR demanded a paternity test on his unborn child. The results came back and JR was named the father (unknown to JR, Babe had Paul Cramer ensure the test results read that JR was the father). Elated at the prospect of having a son or daughter, JR reconciled with Babe. JR and Jamie also reconciled.

Babe was soon stranded in a remote cabin during a flash flood with fellow expectant mom Bianca Montgomery. Bianca went into labor and Babe helped deliver Bianca's daughter, Miranda. Soon after, Babe went into labor and managed to get in contact with her ex-lover, Medivac Paul Cramer. Paul delivered Babe's child, a boy, and soon after drugged Babe. Paul gave the baby boy (later named Ace) to his childless sister, Kelly Buchanan (of One Life To Live) and prepared to tell the world that Babe's child died in a helicopter crash (which he staged). After staging the crash, a frantic JR came on the scene and demanded to know where his child was. Panicked, Paul told JR that Miranda was his child (Bianca was unconscious since shortly after Miranda's birth, and thus could not confirm or deny anything). Babe, drugged thanks to Paul and delirious with infection, was not able to recall giving birth to a boy thanks to her fuzzy memories. JR immediately fell in love with the daughter, who he named Bess.

When a grief stricken Bianca, unable to cope with the loss of Miranda, kidnapped Bess (in actuality, her own daughter), JR was hard pressed to be sympathetic, despite Babe's pleas for leniency. JR's attachment and deep love for the baby only made Babe love him more. Babe's insistence that Bianca be part of Bess's life caused strains between the couple, but they were both deeply in love with their little girl.

JR soon learned that Babe's marriage to Paul was still valid and that Babe knew all along and lied about it. Furious and reeling over yet another deception from Babe, JR decided to cut her out of his life while keeping custody of Bess. Under the auspice of renewing their vows, JR married Babe (now legally), so as to give him more leverage in a custody suit. Babe remained oblivious to her husband's hatred.

JR plotted to prove Babe an unfit mother by getting her to sleep with Jamie, who clearly still carried a torch for her. JR drugged Babe's drink one night in hopes of loosening her inhibitions, but the plan backfired and Babe almost died. Jamie and others began to suspect JR's true motives and warned Babe, who refused to listen. Jamie was determined to prove JR's plot to bring down Babe, leading the two brothers to be at odds. In an attempt to get information from the drug dealer that supplied JR, Jamie went undercover in prison, but he was stabbed and nearly died. JR was shaken to almost lose his brother, but resolute in his determination to get Bess for himself, no matter what the cost.

Babe slowly began to wise to JR's intentions and prepared one final test to ascertain his true feelings. Babe made it appear as if she was having an affair with Bianca. JR was elated, and gleefully told Babe he hated her and would use this information to take Bess from her. Babe told JR that she and Bianca had set him up and that their marriage was over. Babe seemed poised to drop an even bigger bombshell when she learned that JR had Bess's nanny whisk the infant away to an undetermined location.

David (who had been revealed as Babe's father) and Tad managed to track down Bess, and JR was arrested for drugging Babe. He got the charges dropped, but was surprised when Babe announced she wanted to reconcile for the sake of Bess. Suspecting a scheme, JR doctored security footage to make it appear as if Jamie and Babe were offering money to have JR killed. JR threatened Babe that if she didn't sign over full custody of Bess, he'd send her, along with Jamie, to jail. Babe agreed, signed over Bess and soon left town with Jamie.

Babe left a note for JR which rocked the very foundation of his world. Babe claimed that Bess was Miranda, having been switched at birth by Paul. Babe and JR's son, the note claimed, had died. Babe wrote that Bianca received a similar note, and would be arriving to reclaim her daughter shortly. Bianca arrived and it became clear that she hadn't read her letter yet. JR destroyed the note for Bianca and convinced himself that Babe's letter was a vicious lie to hurt him. Even though it was the truth, he refused to accept the baby that he loved was not his, and that his son was dead. JR shared Babe's letter with Adam, explaining that it was clearly a manipulation and any attempt of Adam to prove otherwise would result in JR leaving town with Bess, never to be seen again.

Bianca confronted JR, knowing that Babe left a letter for her with unknown contents that she never received. JR, whose word with Bianca meant little, told her that Babe's letter detailed that Bess was Miranda. He explained that it was a lie on Babe's part to hurt JR. Coming from him, JR hoped that Bianca would believe the letter was a lie. His plan worked, but Bianca secretly worked to try to reunite Babe with Bess.

JR, Bianca and Bess traveled to Florida under the auspice of participating in a charity concert. However, Bianca's ulterior motive was to reunite Bess with Babe, who was in the area. Fearful that Bianca was planning on meeting up with Babe and telling her about Miranda (JR remained in deep denial that Bess wasn't his daughter), JR refused to let Bess out of his sight. Jamie managed to corner JR in a warehouse and locked him in, while Babe told Bianca the truth about Miranda. Jamie tried to make JR face the truth, but JR refused and swore that he would kill anyone who tried to take his daughter away. Desperate to escape, JR beat Jamie with a pipe, nearly killing him. JR fled back to his hotel room, where Bianca had learned from Babe that Miranda was alive. Bianca demanded her daughter from JR, who refused to hand her over. JR attempted to lock Bianca onto a balcony while he made an escape, and in the struggle to get out, Bianca slipped and fell off the balcony. Unconscious, she soon entered a coma.

JR swore to Bianca's mother and sister, Erica Kane and Kendall Hart, that he was not responsible for the accident. At Erica's request, he agreed to transport the unconscious Bianca back to Pine Valley. Unbeknownst to JR, Erica had learned that Bess was really Miranda and demanded that Adam authorize a DNA test to legally prove so. Suspecting that Erica was right and wanting to spare JR long-term, inevitable pain, Adam agreed to the test. The results came in and Bess was proven to be Miranda. Erica told JR that they had genetic evidence that Bess was Bianca's daughter. JR refused to believe it and attempted to escape town with the baby, but was stopped by Tad. Bess was taken out of his arms and given back to Bianca, who awoke from her coma.

Deeply hurt, JR swore Adam out of his life for his betrayal at letting the test happen. As he processes his grief, he has vowed to get revenge on Babe. What JR doesn't realize is that his son is actually alive and is with Babe. When JR will discover the truth remains to be seen.