Carol, her husband Ed and their daughter Sophia meet Shane, Lori and Carl on the road to Atlanta. Taking pity on them, Carol offers to share her husband’s rations until he chastises her for compromising their “operational security.”

The wife of an abusive man, Carol is meek at the outset. But when Ed is killed in a walker attack, she finds inner strength and peace of mind in the knowledge that the main threat to her and Sophia now only comes from outside the group.

That threat is soon realized after the group flees the CDC and Sophia goes missing during a walker attack. A religious woman, Carol asks God for Sophia’s safe return: "Praying for Ed's death was a sin," she says while in a church. "Please don't let this be my punishment."

In Sophia’s absence, Carol bonds with Daryl, who takes a fervent interest in locating her daughter. After one particularly perilous search, Carol thanks Daryl for “doing more for my little girl today then her own daddy did his whole life.”

But when Sophia turns up a walker, Carol finds her faith shaken (she refuses to attend Sophia’s funeral, claiming, “that’s not my little girl.”) and her relationship with Daryl strained.

Though Carol begs Daryl not to pull away from her, it’s not until a walker herd attacks the farm that Daryl proves his devotion, riding up on his motorcycle to rescue her from a pack of the undead.

Afterwards, Carol begins to question Rick’s leadership and encourages Daryl to replace him as a “man of honor.” Daryl, however, shuts Carol down: “Rick has honor,” he declares.