Following the plane crash disaster, Kim became the show's central antagonist for the rest of her first duration on the show. This was first impacted in 1997 when, after becoming a public enemy in light of her affair with Dave, the character was seemingly killed off upon last appearing on 5 February that year. However, it was soon revealed on 22 May 1997 that Kim had actually faked her own death in order to get revenge on Frank; on that dated episode, she reappeared herself and coldly watched on as Frank was dying of a heart attack in shock at her apparent return from the dead. Afterwards, Kim took control of Frank's business empire and went on to proceed in becoming arch-enemies with Frank's son Chris (Peter Amory). Their longstanding rivalry contributes to some of Kim's other major storylines and interactions, most notably with Chris' sister Zoe (Leah Bracknell). During that time, Kim developed an unlikely friendship with elderly poacher Seth Armstrong (Stan Richards); formed a business partnership with wealthy entrepreneur Lord Alex Oakwell (Rupam Maxwell) that culminates with his causing the death of Zoe's best friend, Linda Fowler (Tonicha Jeronimo), on the show's 25th anniversary episode; found herself blackmailed by an unknown person on Christmas Day 1997, which involved James being abducted by a mysterious kidnapper - who later turned out to be Linda's mother Jan Glover (Roberta Kerr); and sparked a relationship with Frank's ex-business associate Steve Marchant (Paul Opacic) that led to the pair getting married on 7 May 1998, and later attempting to steal a horse in a bid to solve their financial troubles - which resulted in Kim framing Steve for the crime after their plan led to his running over Chris' ex-wife Kathy Bates (Malandra Burrows) in a car. On 19 January 1999, Kim escaped the village in a helicopter with both James and the £190,000 that she reclaimed from Chris - who had recovered it from his father's grave in a last-ditch attempt to bring her to justice for Frank's death - after knocking her stepson unconscious with a paperweight.