Bartholomew Scott Winslow Sheffield is the son of Catherine Dollanganger and Bart Winslow; following an affair Cathy had to get revenge on her mother Corrine Foxworth for imprisoning her in Foxworth Hall and poisoning her and her siblings. Bart Jr. was born 9 months after Foxworth Hall was burned to the ground by his grandmother Corrine.
Bart was then brought up in California by his mother and stepfather/uncle with his older half-brother Jory. He grows up believing that Paul Sheffield (his mother's guardian and second husband) was his father. He is at first, described as clumsy with knobbly knees. He is angered by his mother's adoption of Cindy, the daughter of a student of Cathy's who died in an accident, and feels resentment towards her.
If There Be Thorns During the summer before his 9th birthday, an old woman dressed in black with a veil and her butler move into the mansion next to their house. Bart starts going over often visiting the old woman, who gives him cookies and ice cream as well as letting him sit on her lap and singing him to sleep and she encourages him to call her "grandmother".
The butler, John Amos, also seems to befriend Bart, but soon John Amos begins to fill Bart's mind with stories about the sinful nature of women. John Amos reveals that the old woman is truly Bart's grandmother, Corrine Foxworth. He also gives Bart a journal belonging to Bart's biological great-grandfather, Malcolm Foxworth, claiming that this journal will help Bart become as powerful and successful as that man. Bart is enveloped by the journal and begins to pretend that he is his great-grandfather, who hated women and was obsessed with their degradation. Bart becomes destructive and violent towards his parents and siblings, especially to his adopted sister Cindy, who he nearly drowns in her paddling pool. This leads Chris to lock him in the attic in a fit of rage. Bart starts believing he is like Malcolm and starts behaving like an old man at times, but also at times, still visits his grandmother and being happy within her company.
Later on, Cathy is injured in a ballet accident and is told that she will never dance again. From her wheelchair, she begins to write out the story of her life. Bart filches his mother's manuscript pages and is enraged to learn the truth about his parents: Cathy and Chris are brother and sister, and his "grandmother" locked them in an attic for years in Foxworth Hall, feeding them poison to gain an inheritance. The news causes Bart to cling to the only person who has not yet lied to him: John Amos. Bart proudly calls his parents sinners and "devil's spawns".
When John imprisons Cathy and Corrine in the cellar of the mansion where he plans to starve them to death. He orders Bart to keep the cellar door locked, now believing he is a vessel for Malcolm's spirit. Unbeknownst to him, John Amos is planning to get Corrine's fortune and the newly rebuilt Foxworth Hall to live as Malcolm did, merely he's using Bart and God for his own evil and selfish desires. However, Bart learns his mother risked her health so he can be born, he realizes how much he loves his mother and grandmother despite everything and tells Chris where the two women are. However, the mansion catches fire and Bart goes to unlock the cellar door to free Cathy and Corrine. Bart realizes John was only using him for his own selfish gain and kicks him in the stomach. When Bart is taken outside the burning house with Jory, he watches as his grandmother saves his mother but catches fire herself and dies when her heart gives out.
Bart, Jory, and Cindy are left with a large inheritance, which is held in trust until their 25th birthdays, which Cathy and Chris are administrators.
Seeds of Yesterday
Bart speaking an eulogy at Chris's funeral
15 years later, Bart is now living in the new Foxworth Hall and still plans to be like his great-grandfather, even going so far as to change his last name to Foxworth. He invites Cathy and Chris to Foxworth Hall but still holds Chris with contempt for his incestuous relationship with his sister, Cathy, and still hates Cindy. Jory and his wife Melodie come to the mansion as well due to Melodie's pregnancy and Bart becomes attracted to her. When Jory has an accident that is left paralyzed, Bart has an affair with Melodie. At the same time, His Great-uncle Joel Foxworth twists his mind about women and sin, turning him into a dark and hateful man with a determination to gain more money.
However, Bart turns into a good and remorseful man after Chris' death in a car accident and makes up for the horrible things he did by opening a research center as well as a law firm and becomes a televangelist.
As he grows older, he also grows more handsome. He has dark hair and bronze skin.