Nadine Crowell came to Port Charles in October 2007 to see her comatose sister, Jolene. Damian Spinelli, a friend of Jolene's, was at General Hospital and filled her in on what transpired prior to Jolene's coma. Nadine was shocked to discover that her sister, a nurse, had been killing patients at General Hospital. It took her some time to come to terms with Jolene's crimes. Nadine, a nurse herself, soon became a member of the General Hospital staff despite her sister's nefarious behavior. It was difficult at first but eventually Nadine managed to win over the respect and friendship of other staff members when they realized that she was a genuinely kind and compassionate person who never judged others.

As Nadine settled into Port Charles, she became friends with Damian Spinelli. Damien with smitten with the pretty young nurse. For her part, Nadine enjoyed spending time with Damien. On Halloween night, Nadine accompanied Spinelli to a Black and White Ball hosted by Nikolas Cassadine on Spoon Island. The evening started out like a fairytale with the announcement of his engagement to Emily. Nadine was dazzled and swept up in the romance of it all. She agreed to pretend to be Lulu so that Lulu could slip away. The plan worked too well. Since both young ladies were wearing identical ball gowns and had switched masks, Nadine was easily mistaken for Lulu. Anthony Zacchara, intent on murdering the young woman who had piqued his son's interest, attacked Nadine thinking that she was Lulu. Luckily Spinelli came to her rescue. As they fled Anthony's diabolical clutches, they ran into Jason Morgan. He told them to make their way to the barn for safety. By this time, a violent storm had moved in and the power had gone out. The guests were trapped on Spoon Island with a crazed homicidal maniac on the loose. They made it to the barn where Elizabeth Webber was waiting with a gun. Shaken by everything that happened, Nadine broke down. Spinelli and Elizabeth offered her words of encouragement.

Sadly, Emily Quartermaine was murdered that night. Her fiancé, Nikolas Cassadine was inconsolable. Nadine's heart broke for the young prince especially after he learned that he had a brain tumor. She reached out to him and befriended him. Nadine soon realized that he was seeing his murdered fiancée. There had been questions that maybe Nikolas's brain tumor had led him to kill Emily during one of his frequent fits of rages. The rages were followed by blackouts and were a result of the tumor. Nikolas feared telling anyone about the visions with Emily in part because he didn't want to believe that she was just a result of his brain tumor. Nikolas was also resistant to the idea of surgery, fearing that it would take Emily from him. Nadine was understanding and offered Nikolas a different possibility for having visions of Emily. Nadine believed that it was a manifestation of their love and that Emily was trying to help him in the only way that she could. Nikolas appreciated Nadine's view of things and her complete acceptance of the visions without judgment. They forged a friendship and Nikolas found himself relying more and more on Nadine.

As Nikolas's condition deteriorated, he decided to start pushing himself to remember what he saw the night of Emily's murder. Nadine was at Nik's side when he finally remembered seeing Diego Alcazar. Diego was supposed to have been killed a couple of years earlier in a mob shoot-out. Nadine and Nikolas realized that Diego was the Text Message Killer and shared the information with Jason. As all three set out to find Diego, Nikolas and Nadine caught up with him at one of the Alcazar warehouses on the piers. Unfortunately, Nik's bouts of rages became more frequent and while in the warehouse, he and Nadine argued. He hurt her feelings and then left her behind to follow his vision of Emily. As soon as Nik disappeared out of sight, Diego stepped out from the shadows. He quickly subdued Nadine by drugging her with chloroform and then tied her to the bottom of an elevator shaft. Spinelli and Maxie arrived minutes later and realized Nadine had been taken by the Text Message Killer. Eventually Spinelli, Maxie and Nikolas ended up struggling with Diego. As they all fought, Diego stepped back and became tangled in some chains that wrapped around his throat. As he tried to get free he accidentally stepped off the ledge and ended up dying by hanging.

Nikolas refused to go to the hospital until he found Nadine. Fearing the worse, he decided to start at the bottom and stepped into the elevator. The elevator was faulty and didn't work. Nadine, at the bottom, realized she was about to die and struggled to free herself. Meanwhile, Nikolas remembered something that Nadine had said and on a hunch decided to look down between the gap and call out to Nadine. She had just managed to rip the tape off her mouth and shout up. She was quickly rescued and taken to the hospital.