Cristian was being pressured to join a gang, but he resisted, not wanting to follow in the footsteps of older brother Antonio, who ended up in jail. Cristian did vow revenge on the Arrows when they stabbed and nearly killed his best friend, Eddie, but Antonio returned to Llanview and brought peace between the rival gangs. The gangs join to form one group called "Esperanza"(Hope).

Cristian and Jessica Buchanan started seeing each other, despite Clint Buchanan and Carlotta's objections. After Luna Moody was killed at the community center, Cristian designed a beautiful angel statue in her memory, which was placed in the middle of Angel Square. When Cristian and Jessica were caught sneaking up to Viki's cabin in the woods, they were forbidden to see each other. They were allowed to go to the prom, but Jessica got drunk and after seeing him dancing with her friend, Lorna, and broke up with him. Later, they grew closer again, especially after Cristian saved her from a warehouse fire, but then did not see each other for months. Cristian had to create a painting, a nude, so that he could get a scholarship to an art school in New York. He found the model he wanted to paint, Roseanne, Téa Delgado's cousin, but Jessica was not very happy about the situation.

Meanwhile, Jess and Will (Jessica's new step brother), grew closer. The closeness between Roseanne and Cris worried Jessica, especially when she saw them kissing at the Buchanan lodge. To get her mind off of Cris, Jess and Will went back to the lodge, got drunk and wound up having sex. Jess ended up pregnant and was rushed to the hospital after a car accident with Will, Cris and Roseanne. When her family found out at the hospital, Cris lied and said he was the father. He then asked Jess to marry him and they would raise the baby together. Well, neither parent would give them permission so they decided to go elope. At the ceremony Jess decided she couldn't go through with it and they returned to Llanview.

Viki (Jessica's mother) decided to throw Cristian and Jess an engagement party, where Will and Cris fought. Jessica ran out and realized she was going into labor when she got hit by a car. Jess lost the baby and went into a coma. When she awoke, she had a little memory who Will was, but had no idea who Cristian was. Heartbroken, Cristian turned to Roseanne and they decided to move to New York together, where Cris had an art scholarship. Jess regained her memory, but it was too late. She and Will ended up together. To keep Will away from Jess, Asa Buchanan had Cristian's scholarship revoked so he would move back and be with Jess. Roseanne and Will were worried that their relationships were in trouble, so Will gave Roseanne the money to cover Cris's art school expenses. But Cris was still very much in love with Jess, so he decided that he needed one last time with her to talk. She told him she loved Will and he then asked Roseanne to marry him. Roseanne was worried Cristian would find out what she and Will had done to keep him and Jessica apart so she had the wedding moved up to the next day.

When Jess found out what they had done, she flew to N.Y. to stop the wedding. Roseanne locked her in the closet and left for the church. Jess escaped but was too late, they had just said 'I do'. Will arrived at the church also and he and Jess told Cristian what they had done and Cristian walked out on Roseanne. Later, Cris went to see Jess and she told him she wants nothing to do with him. Cristian went to a bar to drown his sorrows. Will showed up to do the same, but Cris and he started to argue and Antonio had to break up the fight. Cris told his brother how he has nothing to live for. Antonio tells him his talent is a gift he should cherish. Cristian then tells Antonio, he is done with art.

Cristian and Roseanne got an annulment and Cris started growing closer to Jessica again. When Asa framed Will for embezzling a large sum of money, Cris helped Jessica get proof, Asa's confession on tape. They got on the train to Statesville to give Bo Buchanan the proof, but the train crashed and they ended up going on the run with Will. Along the way, they ran into Todd Manning, who tricked Cristian and Jessica into going back to Llanview, claiming that Viki was dying. Cris learned that Todd had also tricked Will into breaking up with Jess so she'd leave him, but he didn't tell Jessica. He and Jessica got engaged, but when she found out Cris hadn't told her the truth, she left him and went to see Will in Ireland. Cristian has been somewhat of a lost-soul ever since, getting into trouble and not caring about what happens to him. He hurt his hand when he stole Todd's car after he'd been drinking and crashed it (RJ had tampered with the car, but Cris doesn't know that). He can no longer do artwork and became the manager/bartender of Break Bar and made extra money by selling fake ID's. What RJ didn't know was that Cristian had decided to secretly collect information about RJ's illegal activities.

Cristian met the beautiful Jen Rappaport while she was under suspicion for her uncle Colin MacIver's murder. The two began to fall in love, much to the chagrin of Lindsay Rappaport, Jen's mother. Lindsay made it clear that Cris was not one of her favorites for her daughter, but Jen and Cris didn't care what she thought. Finally, Lindsay hired someone to set up a porno website of Cristian, which she made sure Jen saw, also Shawna, a girl at the University, hid in Cris's room and forcibly kissed him. Jen ran out before Cris could shove Shawna off him. Cris was heartbroken and tried telling Jen it was all a lie, but she refused to believe him.

When the truth came out, that Lindsay had set up the website, Jen left her mother and moved in with Cris. The two had a wonderful relationship until RJ found out that Cris was trying to collect evidence against him. He, RJ, hired a semi-maniacal hit man named Keith Shaeffer to "scare" Cristian out of town. When Cris stood firm, Keith went after Jen. Cris broke up with Jen to protect her, but Jen thought he didn't love her anymore. It ended in a showdown when Keith was about to attack Jen and Cristian saved her. The two reunited, but not for long.

When Cris was away, Jen had slept with Al Holden, and Lindsay changed the pregnancy results on Jen's test so she thought she was pregnant. Cristian confronted Al at the quarry and the two got into a fight, which resulted in Cris punching Al over the edge of a cliff. Al became paralyzed from the waist down, and Jen decided to stay with him until he was well. Cris and Jen still love each other, despite the efforts of Al and Lindsay to keep the apart. Al is faking paralysis now to force Jen to stay with him, unknown to Cristian, who is heartbroken over losing Jen.

Source: OLTL Online