Daria is the brains of the family Morgendorffer, even though she doesn't share with the rest. She is cynical (well, okay, realistic), pessimistic, and has a dim view of humanity. She is one of the 'unpopular' and proud of it. She gets straight As at school, and has even been offered a look at a local exclusive private boarding school. She's also the one her family goes to in a crisis, and generally the only one really capable of handling it.

She reads a lot more than is typical for a high-school student, to the point of getting special assignments in English when she's already read the books the rest of the class get assigned. All the teachers seem to use her as their lifelines, and whenever the rest of the class is stumped, Daria's the one they go to for an actual answer, although they don't always get quite what they expect.

Daria has finally realized that her crush on Trent is doomed, not because he's dating, but because she and Trent are pretty incompatible. Unfortunately she came to this realization at the same time as her best friend found a boyfriend. Daria is very protective of her friendship with Jane, and this boyfriend incident has started up the high-school version of a cold war.