Aaron Snyder was born from a one-night stand between Julie Kinney and Holden Snyder, but was adopted after birth by Iva Snyder. Aaron's parentage was hidden from Holden, but the secret didn't stay hidden for long. When Holden discovered the truth, he demanded Julie to tell him if he was the father. After Julie admitted it, Holden suffered a severe memory loss. When Holden returned to Oakdale, he had no memory of his past and it was uncertain if he would ever get his memory back. After divorcing Lily Snyder (to whom he was married at the time), Holden sued for Aaron's custody and won. Holden determined to be a good father for his son, even though he didn't remember his past. A few years later, Holden went to Maryland to participate in a treatment that dealt with memory loss and he sent Aaron to Seattle to live with Julie and Caleb. Later, when Holden returned from Maryland, he regained his memory and reunited with Lily. Thinking that Aaron was happy living in Seattle, Holden decided to let him stay there. Years later, Aaron (who was now seventeen) ran away to Holden in Oakdale.
Holden had always assumed that Aaron was happy in Seattle, but later he discovered that Julie wasn't home a lot and had some marital problems with her husband Caleb. Aaron, being left alone, became sullen and blamed himself for Julie's and Caleb's problems. This caused him to be arrested for breaking and entering. Caleb became aware of this and thought that Aaron would be better off in Seattle and tried to take him back, but Holden convinced Caleb to let Aaron stay. So Aaron spent the summer on the Snyder farm fixing his motorcycle and met Lucy Montgomery. He became attracted to her, but Lucy's father, Craig, didn't approve of the relationship. He thought that Aaron was bad company and forbade Lucy to see him. When Lucy defied his father, Craig got a restraining order against Aaron. Lucy, worrying about her father's threats to send her away, turned to her mother who convinced Craig to let Aaron and Lucy date.
When Lucy got into a minor accident riding Aaron's bike, Craig talked Holden to send Aaron back to Seattle. Holden reluctantly agreed at first because Lily's pregnancy was in jeopardy from the stress of Aaron being around, but he later changed his mind. When Aaron was blamed for arson, the stress came back. Unable to prove his innocence, Aaron ran away in order to escape the police. After being on the run for weeks, Craig and Hal Munson brought Aaron back. By this time Hal's son had already confessed to the arson and Aaron was a free man. Shortly after that, Lucy got hit by a trolley and was left paralyzed with amnesia. However, Aaron decided to stay with Lucy after gaining Craig's reluctant acceptance.
When Aaron got a job at "The Metro", which was owned by Craig and Dusty Donovan, he chose to deliver a package for Dusty, but ended up being arrested for illegal booking. Dusty stood up for Aaron saying that Aaron didn't even know what he was delivering, but that didn't stop Lucy from leaving Aaron. After that, a heartbroken Aaron ended up sleeping with Alison Stewart.
