Bobby was heartbroken, not understanding why Jenna did what she did. He knew there was no chance of a reconciliation when he heard that Jenna had given birth to a baby girl, named Charlotte ("Charlie")---Naldo's child. Depressed, Bobby pushed himself into a life of booze and girls. Still, he managed to graduate college with respectable marks, and was expected to join the helm of the mighty Ewing Oil along with his older brother JR and father Jock.

Bobby's position at Ewing Oil was quite unique---a "goodwill ambassador" as Jock called him. His duty was to pave the way for any potential deals Ewing Oil had, or any "friends" they needed to make (politicians for one) by showing the appropriate parties a good time—which translated into the 3 B's of Broads, Booze and Booty. Bobby was good at what he did, and invaluable to Jock and JR.

Then everything changed when ranch foreman Ray Krebbs brought his lovely date, Pamela Barnes, to the Ewing Barbecue in 1978. It was love at first sight. Pam was captivated by Bobby, and Bobby was enthralled by her. After one dance sealed their fate, they engaged on a whirlwind courtship, eventually marrying in secret in 1978. When Bobby brought Pam home to Southfork as his wife, the family, especially JR, was not pleased. After all, Pam's family, the Barnes, were the Ewings most hated rivals. To some it was a match made in heaven, but to others, it was a match made in hell.

JR quickly took every opportunity to ruin Pam and Bobby's happiness using a variety of tactics: making Pam seem like an adulteress, using Ray's past relationship with Pam to break them up, accusing Pam of being a spy for her brother Cliff Barnes. But Bobby and Pam's love was too strong. It was Pam, in fact, who encouraged Bobby to become more involved with Ewing Oil. At her suggestion, Jock made Bobby a full partner, working side by side with JR, something that did not make the latter very happy.

Despite some hardships in his marriage to Pam, like her miscarriage after a fall from the Ewing loft, the two were happy. Things turned very bad when Pam's brother, Cliff was framed for the murder of former Ewing employee Julie Grey. Pam discovered that JR had framed Cliff, and in an outrage, moved off Southfork. This caused major strains for Bobby and Pam, because Pam wasn't sure she could be with Bobby anymore, with his brother such a looming presence. Around this time, Bobby got so disgusted of Ewing Oil that he spun off his own company, Ewing Construction, which became a successful entity of its own.

Pam eventually moved back to Southfork, but another miscarriage caused strains with Bobby, as did Pam's insistence that she work. On the work front, Bobby returned to Ewing Oil at Jock's urging in order to "keep an eye on JR" in light of some of the latter's dirty business dealings. During this time of a strained marriage with Pam, Jenna Wade returned to Dallas briefly, apologizing for abandoning Bobby all those years ago and trying to rekindle their affair. Bobby was committed to Pam though, and told Jenna they could not be together. He and Pam eventually worked out their differences, and actually made plans to leave Southfork, disgusted at JR's latest antics.

Everything changed when JR was shot in the spring of 1980, though. While recovering, Jock begged Bobby to take over Ewing Oil as president, which Bobby agreed too. JR spent no time trying to get his power at Ewing Oil back by undermining various business deals of Bobby's, making him look like an incompetent businessman. Bobby's increasing time at Ewing Oil led to more strains with Pam, who in turned befriended her business associate Alex Ward. Jealousy by Bobby and lack of time together only caused more problems for the couple. Eventually though, JR's schemes to ruin him took too much of a toll and Bobby resigned as President, opening up the position for JR. Bobby and Pam also mended their troubled marriage.

Bobby's career took a surprising turn at this point. Approached by old friend Donna about running for State Senate to fill Dave Culver's seat, Bobby accepted the challenge and ran---and won! Now a state senator, Bobby found himself in the midst of making a very difficult decision---choosing between his mother and father. Jock and Miss Ellie were near divorce over strains revolving around the Takapa land development deal, and Bobby's role as State Senator forced him to cast the deciding vote on whether or not to allow the Takapa land to be developed (something that Jock was invested in, and Miss Ellie vehemently against). In an effort to solve things peacefully, he bought some land adjacent to the Takapa property, offered it to Jock as a developmental property, and let Takapa remain untouched, pleasing both his parents.

On the home front, things with Pam were not good. Despondent over not being able to have a baby, Pam became more and more depressed, and eventually had to be committed by Bobby. Wanting to rectify the problem, Bobby, literally by accident, discovered that Kristin Shepard (Sue Ellen's deceased sister and JR's mistress) had a child before returning to Dallas (where she met her death). Bobby learned (or he thought) that this child was JR's, unbeknownst to his brother. Learning this, Bobby traveled to California where he talked with an associate of Kristin's, Jeff Farraday, paid him off and took the baby, Christopher, home with him to Dallas to confront JR. Unfortunately, bad timing intervened, and as soon as he arrived home he ran into Pam, who assumed that the baby was theirs---adopted by Bobby! With Pam in such a fragile state still, Bobby couldn't tell her the truth that the baby was really JR's, and was forced to go along with Pam's plans to adopt the baby as their own.

It was around this time that Jock passed away, and in the interim period before his will was read, the entire Ewing family was given voting shares of Ewing Oil (with JR still at the helm). Concurrently, JR discovered that Christopher was HIS child, and used this as blackmail leverage (He'd tell Pam) for Bobby's voting shares, something that infuriated Bobby. Eventually, Bobby came clean with Pam, they did some more investigating and learned that Jeff Farraday, not JR was really Christopher's father, and Pam and Bobby adopted him.

Furious at JR, Bobby gladly accepted the challenge that Jock's will presented when it was read. The terms of his will stated that Bobby and JR would, for exactly one year, battle it out at Ewing Oil, each party trying to gain as much profit as possible. Whoever had the most profit at the end of the year would get majority control of Ewing Oil. Resigning as State Senator to devote his full time to that, Bobby planned to nail JR and get his daddy's company. He not only met opposition from Miss Ellie, who tried to break the will, but Pam as well. Bobby's ruthless tactics to try to win Ewing Oil sickened Pam, who likened him to JR. When Pam's mother Rebecca was killed in a plane crash that was indirectly linked to Bobby and JR's feud, Pam lost it and moved off of Southfork. She had befriended wealthy Mark Graison, and Bobby was furious. Their marriage wasn't in good shape.

Enter Katherine, Pam's devious half sister who came to Dallas upon her mother's death. Katherine immediately set her sights on Bobby and did everything in her power to break Pam and Bobby, who were still very much in love, apart. Katherine would manipulate events in order to make it seem as if Pam was cheating with Mark. Her schemes worked, as Bobby and Pam grew further apart, and Pam grew closer to Mark. The final straw came when Katherine forged a letter from Pam, saying that she was through with Bobby and wanted a divorce. Bobby, who was ready to reconcile and vulnerable due to various circumstances with his family, believed it. He approached Pam, thinking she wanted a divorce (she didn't) and flat out told her they should get divorced. Amicably, they did.

In 1983, the contest for Ewing Oil ended and Bobby technically won, but agreed to split the company with JR—they would run it together, each with 35%. It was at this time that Jenna Wade, now poor and working as a waitress reentered his life. Katherine was trying to put the moves on an ignorant Bobby, but Jenna stole his heart once again. They dated intensely, and quickly became a couple. Bobby became like a father to Jenna's daughter, Charlie. Katherine was not happy about this. Circumstances had led Bobby to believe that Charlie was actually his daughter---after all the timing was right. Jenna never said she wasn't (although she never said she was), so Bobby assumed she was his child, and embraced her so. When Naldo Marchetta, Jenna's ex-husband came back to town (paid off by Katherine), he revealed that HE was Charlie's father, not Bobby. Furious, and believing that Jenna deceived him about Charlie's parentage, he broke off with Jenna.

He was still very much in love with Pam though, and made attempts to reconcile with her, but Pam told him that she was marrying Mark Graison (she loved Bobby as well, but was marrying Mark out of pity, for he was dying). Eventually, Bobby and Jenna found their way back to each other, further infuriating Katherine. Being blackmailed by JR for her evil antics, Katherine flat out made a confession to Bobby that she loved him. Bobby rejected her, telling her they could only be friends. Soon after, he proposed to Jenna, who accepted. Furious, Katherine shot Bobby.

Bobby recovered, although he had to deal with temporary blindness, and Katherine went on the run. Bobby and Jenna's wedding day grew closer, but on the day of the wedding, Jenna didn't show up. Bobby thought he abandoned her again, but in fact, she was kidnapped by Naldo. Naldo ended up dead one night, and Jenna was accused of killing him. With lots of circumstantial evidence against her, Jenna was forced into jail. Bobby vowed to clear her, and devoted his full attention to that. Around this time as well, Jamie Ewing and Cliff Barnes presented documents stating that they each owned 1/3 of Ewing Oil, leading to another court fight Bobby had to get involved in (Bobby and JR won).

With Jenna in jail, and her subsequent trial, Bobby was left with a lot of time to spend with Christopher---and his mother Pam. Pam and Bobby grew closer once again, and their feelings, and Katherine's deceptions, all came out. They loved each other, and wanted to be together. Bobby was successful in freeing Jenna (in truth, her kidnapping and the framing were all of Katherine's orchestration), but he had secretly reconciled with Pam. He was forced to tell Jenna, and his family, that their engagement was off because he was remarrying Pam.

Pam moved back to Southfork, and she and Bobby remarried. However, Jenna soon discovered that she was pregnant with Bobby's child! This caused strains for Bobby and Pam, but despite it all, they were still in love. Jenna eventually gave birth to Bobby's son, Lucas, although she was together with Ray Krebbs at that point, and it was agreed that Ray would serve as Lucas's father. Meanwhile, JR had managed to lose Ewing Oil to the Justice Department because of some illegal dealings, so Bobby was without a company to run.

Tragedy struck though, when Pam was returning from the doctor's one day with the news that she could conceive a child! Unfortunately, on the way home, she hit a fuel truck, and was badly burned in the process. Bobby vowed to stay by her side, but was heartbroken when Pam disappeared one day, leaving him a note that sad she couldn't bear to stay around knowing that she would be scarred. She later sent him a divorce letter, not revealing where she was and saying she did not want to be found. Bobby was despondent. He tried a brief romance with April Stevens, but it fizzled. He was heartsick over Pam.

At his most vulnerable time, Lisa Alden blew into town, befriending Bobby and then revealing herself as Jeff Farraday's sister---Christopher's aunt---and fighting Bobby for custody. Soon Bobby learned that JR had paid Lisa to come to town, in an effort to get the shares of Wentworth Industries that Pam left Christopher. Bobby was FURIOUS, and vowed revenge on JR.

He got his revenge by making an effort to get back all the name of Ewing Oil, now owned by the Justice Department. A contact in Washington made him realize that this was a possibility, so Bobby made frequent trips there in order to convince appropriate parties to allow HIM to control the Ewing Oil name, not JR. For he knew that this was what JR, then involved in an attempt to take over Weststar, wanted most. While in Washington, Bobby began a romance with lobbyist Kay Lloyd, but they eventually realized that a long distance relationship was not going to work. However, Bobby was successful in getting the Ewing Oil name back, and proudly announced to JR that HE was the new President of Ewing Oil.

JR was furious, but did not have much time to act because soon after was shot by a vengeful Sue Ellen. Feeling pity on his brother, Bobby agreed to let JR return to Ewing Oil----but HE would be running the show. JR agreed, with his own plans. Meanwhile, the Ewings began hostile relations with their new neighbor, Carter McKay (who was being paid off by Ewing enemy Jeremy Wendell in an effort to control part of Southfork). Around this time, Bobby started dating pool hustler Tracey McKay, who turned out to be Carter's daughter! This did not help the relationship, even after the worst of the "range war" that resulted between McKay and the Ewings was over. Around the same time, Bobby made once enemy, now friend Cliff Barnes, a partner in Ewing Oil, after Cliff sold his oil company. JR was not happy.

Bobby thought he was happy with Tracey, but April kept popping into his life. There was something there with her, a spark that he couldn't explain. When April was being harassed, and eventually was beaten by Tracey's brother, Tommy, Bobby jumped to her rescue. This infuriated Tracey, who realized the relationship was sour and broke things off. Bobby and April found their way to each other, admitted their attraction, and started dating.

Meanwhile, JR's antics at Ewing Oil continued, infuriating Bobby. He was about to fire JR, when they two got stuck in an elevator, and a long heart to heart discussion revealed just how much JR cared about Ewing Oil. Bobby agreed to take him back as a full partner.

Ewing Oil soon found itself immersed in scandal when an oil tanker that JR secretly bought crashed, causing a huge oil spill. Cliff, who was having major problems working with JR, was beginning to drift away from Ewing Oil. Prompted by April's devious sister, Michelle Stevens, Cliff was convinced to quit Ewing Oil and join the investigative committee to find whether Ewing Oil was at fault for the spill. If it was, Ewing Oil could have been shut down forever. It was a tense time for Bobby, but eventually, the truth was revealed and Cliff let his conscience be his guide, finding that Ewing Oil was not at fault for the spill.

Meanwhile, things with April went well. The two survived the return, and ultimate demise, of Tommy McKay. However, Kay Lloyd ended up moving to Dallas, and caused strains with April. After Bobby told Kay that April was the one he wanted to be with, the lingering memory of Pam caused even more problems. For Bobby had met Jeanne O'Brien, a real estate agent that was Pam's exact double. Fascinated by her, he began seeing her and even slept with her, in an effort to deal with his lingering emotions about Pam's abandonment. However, he soon realized that April was the one he wanted, and declared his devotion to her. April was hesitant at first, but welcomed Bobby back, and the two became engaged. They were later married at Southfork.

Tragedy struck on their honeymoon, when April was kidnapped by Sheila Foley, an angry oil widow who was involved with a plot to strike back at some OPEC executives. Holding April hostage, she forced Bobby into allowing her to impersonate April, in order to get into an OPEC convention. Once there, Sheila was going to assassinate some OPEC executives, make her escape, and release April. However, things got out of hand at the convention, and OPEC security struck back, hitting April (who was there with Sheila's goons, ready to be released). April was killed.

Bobby was heartbroken again, but made a vow of revenge on Sheila. He spent the next few months trying to track her down, and eventually found her daughter, Jory Taylor. Trying to use Jory to get close to Sheila (who was really named Hillary) made Bobby realize the futility of revenge. Sheila eventually reappeared in Dallas with a guilty conscience, apologized to Bobby, and was quickly killed by a vengeful Michelle.

Depressed over April, Bobby decided that the oil business was no good, and wanted out. He decided to sell Ewing Oil---not to JR, but to businesswoman LeeAnn De La Vega. Miss Ellie, who was living with Clayton in Europe, signed Southfork over to Bobby, who resigned to a happy life on the ranch with Christopher. JR, due to a severe depression, eventually moved to Europe for five years, leaving Christopher and Bobby alone on the ranch.

In 1996, JR returned, and things quickly got interesting again. Bobby engaged in a brief romance with neighbor Julia, but that fizzled out. JR was scheming to take control of Ewing Oil again, so Bobby beat him to the punch----HE, along with Sue Ellen (who had moved back as well), bought Ewing Oil, controlling 50% of it. He ran Ewing Oil with Sue Ellen for the next few years, despite JR's constant schemes to get it back. Bobby engaged in another romance with young oil executive Jennifer Jantzen, but that fizzled as well. Around this time, Bobby began a very brief flirtation with Sue Ellen, but nothing occurred with that.

The following occurred on The Return to Southfork and isn't an official continuation of the Dallas story

When Ray and Jenna moved back to Southfork in 1998, the attraction between Jenna and Bobby sizzled again. The two gave each other lingering looks for months, but because of Ray, nothing was ever acted upon. When Jenna decided to fly to Switzerland to pick up her daughter Charlie, Bobby insisted on accompanying her. Their plane crashed in the Alps, but right before crashing, both Bobby and Jenna declared their love for each other. Thinking him dead, Christopher inherited Bobby's 50% of Ewing Oil, and sold it to his Uncle Gary. The two survived, and kissed on the mountain. Eventually, they were rescued by Ray.

What Bobby didn't realize was, while he was gone, Christopher had tracked down Pam and brought her back to Southfork. Upon returning, Bobby was reunited with his one true love, who revealed that she was kidnapped from Dallas and held against her will for the last thirteen years----by JR. Furious at JR, Bobby swore revenge. Meanwhile, he told Jenna there could be nothing between them because of Pam's return. Furious, Jenna attempted to undermine Bobby and Pam's relationship to the best of her ability. It culminated in Jenna trying to frame Pam for attempted murder on JR!

Eventually, the truth came out that Jenna was behind the murder attempt, and Pam was cleared of all charges. Jenna, despondent, committed suicide, and revealed in her suicide letter that SHE, along with Katherine, was responsible for keeping Pam out of Dallas---NOT JR (NOTE: It was later revealed that Katherine was the primary party responsible for taking Pam, with Jenna knowing about it, but being drugged by Katherine for years to keep quiet). JR, Bobby and Pam came to an uneasy truce.

Bobby and Pam made plans to marry again, on the New Year. Bobby also decided to get back into the oil business, purchasing Northstar Oil from Abby Ewing. He and Pam were blissful, and learned that she was pregnant! Bobby and Pam's wedding day rolled around, but it was crashed by two unexpected visitors---Katherine and the thought dead Mark Graison! Before anything further could occur, Southfork exploded, thanks to Katherine. There were few casualties, and Bobby and Pam married anyway, in Pam's hospital room.

Katherine's vendetta continued though. She taunted Pam, who was being plagued by strange flashbacks of a child. Pam eventually confronted Mark Graison, who revealed the whole truth of Pam's time away from Dallas----Katherine had kept her secretly drugged into submission at all times, and forced Mark and Pam into a marriage that produced a child, Alexander. At that point, Katherine drugged Pam so much she had to be committed, and tried to worm her way into Mark and Alexander's life. Alexander eventually passed away, although Katherine made cryptic remarks to Pam indicating that Alexander may indeed by alive.

The months of taunting by Katherine culminated in Katherine getting into a near fatal car crash that caused her disappearance. Glad to see Katherine out of their life, Bobby hoped for a happy future with Pam. Around this time, Bobby met Todd Foster, who revealed himself as April's illegitimate child from long ago. Todd and Bobby became fast friends. Bobby also assumed a position at Weststar when Christopher took control of the board, in an attempt to help his son at running an oil company.

Katherine's reign of terror continued when she showed up alive, but amnesiac, at a hospital in Paris. Bobby and Pam flew there to investigate, with Bobby not buying her amnesia act for a second. Pam was determined to figure out whether Katherine was being truthful or not, and snuck her back into Dallas to do so. Bobby was furious at this, causing more tension for Bobby and Pam. Also, Bobby decided he wanted out of Northstar, and traded it with JR (who was in a financial jam) for 8% of Ewing Oil.

Despite the problems with Pam, Bobby still loves her, and the recent birth of their baby girl can hopefully indicate a bright future for the two.