While serving in Viet Nam, Jack Abbott met and fell in love with a young Vietnamese woman he had known only as Mai Yun. When Jack's military service ended he returned to her village, but not knowing her real name, it was impossible to find her. Unknown to Jack, Mai Yun being pregnant with his son, had moved to a safer place. She later married a Vietnamese man with the last name Volien, and together they had a daughter they named Mai. When the war ended the women had been separated from the men. Mai Yun later found out that her husband had died, but that her and Jack's son Keemo remained among the missing.

In 1994, Christine Blair became friends with the owner of her favorite restaurant, The Saigon Shack, which was run by a Vietnamese woman named Luan. When Luan was shot in a robbery at the restaurant, she pleaded with Christine to find her son, Keemo, before she might die. Christine and Paul Williams traveled to Viet Nam, where they found handsome 20 year old Keemo who was belligerent and resentful from assuming that his mother had abandoned him in Viet Nam as a child. But they convinced Keemo to return with them to Genoa City. After a tearful reunion, Luan recovered from her wounds. Keemo moved in with Luan and her teenaged daughter Mai. From the stories Luan told her, Christine deduced that Jack had been Luan's lover while he was a soldier in Viet Nam, and that Jack had fathered Keemo. Christine made sure that Jack and Luan were reunited. Luan told Keemo that Jack was his father, which angered Keemo because he had always believed that his American father had deserted them. When Keemo learned how Jack and Luan had been separated, he accepted Jack as his father.

Luan and Jack were married in a beautiful wedding. The bride wore Vietnamese traditional red, and Keemo as best man wore white. Luan was ill, but she did not tell Jack. They became a very close family, including Luan's teenage daughter, Mai. Ironically, Jack inadvertently discovered that Luan had a terminal illness. He resolved to keep his knowledge a secret so that her remaining months would be happy.

Jack was devastated when Luan died. When Keemo discovered that Jack had known that Luan had been terminally ill, he accused his father of stealing precious time that he and his sister Mai could have spent with their mother. Eventually, Keemo said he forgave his father. But Keemo returned to Viet Nam cutting Jack out of his life via email.

In 2022 Jack began receiving texts wanting him to meet at an address in Los Angeles. Phyllis tracked the address to a Hao Nguyen which happened to be the name of the dead father of Keemo's mother. Asked if it might be Keemo, Jack admitted that Keemo had told him to stay out of his life shortly after he left Genoa City, and Jack had no contact with him since. Jack did an Internet search revealing that Hao Nguyen, born the same year as Keemo had died 3 weeks earlier in Los Angeles – about the time the texts had begun. Finding the obituary, Jack identified the photo as Keemo and was crushed. It said Keemo had no survivors and had owned several properties in Los Angeles.

Phyllis talked Jack into going to the address in L.A. They found the house had been left unlocked and a cardboard box had been left for them. Inside Jack found a bundle of letters written by Keemo to Jack over the past year, but never mailed. Each was signed Keemo Abbott. Keemo wrote how he had worked out his anger and had forgiven Jack but was unable to tell him in person for fear the anger would return. Jack became very upset and wanted to leave. Phyllis found a photo in the box of Keemo with two women and a young girl in Vietnam dated 2012. Jack identified one of the women as Keemo's half-sister Mai. In a small wooden box they found a wedding photo of Jack and Luan and a necklace that Jack had given to Luan at Christmas. The statement of paternity that Jack had gotten drawn up and given to Keemo was also there, all encouraging Jack that Keemo had still cared about his father.

When Jack and Phyllis returned to Keemo's house they found a photo of a young Asian girl which had been added to the box, the name Allie and a phone number written on the back. Jack called the number and convinced her to come to the house. Allie turned out to be Keemo's daughter who was in grad school, her parents had divorced long ago, and her mother had returned to Viet Nam. They had told Allie that Keemo had never known who his father was, just an American soldier in Viet Nam. Jack convinced Allie that he was her grandfather with the letters and photos of them together. Jack knew better than to pressure her, and she left. But she returned again with a small Vietnamese statue that had been Keemo's, but she refused Luan's necklace offered by Jack. They came to an understanding that Allie wasn't ready, and she had Jack’s contact information to let him know when she was. Jack and Phyllis returned to Genoa City, and Allie resumed trying to deal with her father's death and to sell the house she had lived in all her life. Meanwhile, the texter told Jack that he shouldn't have left, and they would try to get Allie to come around. Thinking it may have been Keemo's sister Mai, Jack contacted Mai who was living in Saigon and knew nothing about the texts. The buyer of the house showed up to meet Allie and introduced herself as Taylor Jensen. Phyllis talked Jack into reaching out to Allie to get together in LA for dinner. Allie needed time to think about it but was encouraged by "Taylor" to reach out to family and she did.

Allie arranged to meet Jack who was accompanied by Phyllis at Keemo’s house. Jack and Phyllis were aghast as Taylor entered the room and recognized her as Diane Jenkins who had been murdered in 2011. Hearing Jack’s accusations, Allie was shocked to realize that Diane was the mother of Jack’s son Kyle, a longtime rival to Phyllis, and widely hated in Genoa City. Diane begged to be forgiven for all the "mistakes of the past". Allie exploded at Diane, accusing her of using Allie to get to Jack. Diane said she did it for her and for Jack, a good man who needed to know his granddaughter. Allie ran out. Later Jack explained to Allie that Diane was Kyle’s mother by trickery and how she had plotted her own murder, walking away from her grieving young son, the only person who saw her as someone not evil. How Diane thought she could manipulate herself into forgiveness, but that no one in Genoa City would ever forgive her. How he needed to leave things good with Allie.

Once Allie graduated, she showed up in Genoa City for a visit. She met her great aunts Ashley and Traci who insisted that she stay there at Abbott Manor. Allie agreed and enjoyed spending time getting to know her family as they shared stories of growing up together and of Keemo. Allie told them she had been a "mathlete" and Keemo had showed up at all the competitions, embarrassing her by cheering. Allie met Noah Newman attending the wedding of Mariah and Tessa, and after a rocky start began enjoying each other’s company. Ashley showed Allie around the Jabot lab, and after careful consideration, Allie accepted the internship at the lab that Jack had offered her.

Noah brought Allie a copy of an old radio mystery show and an MP3 Player. The two of them had a ball listening to it together and trying to identify the killer. In their excitement they nearly kissed but aborted when the killer turned out to be someone other than either of their guesses.