After killing her abusive stepfather (later revealed to be her real father), Kate goes on the run and is eventually captured by a federal marshal while in Australia after being taken in by a farmer, Ray Mullen, who planned and carried out his idea of handing her in for the $23,000 reward after seeing her mugshot. Kate works on his farm for nearly three months before being handed over to the cops. On the island, Kate is attracted to both Sawyer and Jack, and eventually has a short relationship with Sawyer. After escaping the island, she is put on trial for murder, but subsequently makes a highly favorable plea bargain that does not require prison time. She becomes engaged to Jack and raises Claire's son Aaron as her own, pretending to be his biological mother as part of the Oceanic 6 cover story. Before Sawyer jumped out of the helicopter that would have brought him to safety with her, Sawyer whispered something in Kate's ear, which she will not reveal to Jack. His jealousy becomes the demise of their relationship. She resists returning to the island, but eventually decides that she will. She arrives on the island in 1977 and joins the Dharma Initiative, along with Jack and Hurley. Along with them she returns to the present time and searches for Claire. She mortally wounds the Man in Black during his fight with Jack and leaves the Island with Sawyer and Claire on the Ajira Flight at the end of the series.
