Carolyn is the second youngest of the four living Collinses in 1972 (when the film is predominantly set) and is the daughter of Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the niece of Roger Collins, and the older cousin of young David Collins. She expresses teen-aged disdain for David's claims to have conversations with the spirit of his mother, and is similarly dismissive of the supernatural and anachronistic quirks of her undead, newly unearthed vampiric "cousin" Barnabas Collins. But Carolyn has more in common with them than she wants to acknowledge.