In "A Long, Strange Trip", Sam was reunited with younger sister Kelly (played by Shannon Woodward), now a successful fashion designer, for the first time since their mother kicked Sam out when she was a pregnant 15-year-old. Kelly tells Sam how their mother is dying of emphysema, and after reminiscing about their childhood, Sam relents and agrees to allow Kelly to move their mother to a Chicago nursing home. Sam sees her mother for the first time in 15 years in the episode "T Minus 6", but Mary Taggart does not recognise her daughter. In the next episode, Sam is shown visiting her mother in the nursing home, where they argue about why Sam lost contact with her family, before Mary asks Sam about her son.
