Valene, fearing the Ewings, especially J.R., left Southfork with baby Lucy for her native Virginia. Unbeknownst to the rest of the family, J.R. followed her there, and threatened her into giving Lucy up--he wanted to make sure that a Ewing was going to be raised at Southfork and not by "trash" like her. Promising physical violence, J.R. took baby Lucy back to Southfork and away from Valene. Valene's later legal attempts to reclaim Lucy did not work, as J.R. had bought off every family court judge there was. Lucy was to stay at Southfork. Valene disappeared, plotting to reappear once again in her daughter's life.

Lucy was raised at Southfork, with all the privileges that money could buy—except parents. While her grandmother Ellie, and grandfather Jock were more than supportive and loving enough, Lucy could not help feeling like she was somehow responsible for her parents leaving. She certainly knew that her family, especially J.R., had something to do with it. But her desire for her parents' love left her with the need to find love, in other venues.

It was this desire that led then teenage hellion Lucy into an affair with ranch foreman Ray Krebbs. Ray tried to fight the attraction at first, but Lucy eventually won him over, and the two began an affair. Eventually, they broke it off because of the constant threat of Lucy's family finding out, a fact that would have resulted in Ray surely losing his job if not facing more dire consequences. (Note: It was later revealed that Ray was Lucy's half-uncle. The fact that they committed incest has never been highlighted upon by the Dallas writers).

In 1978, Gary returned to Southfork for a reunion with an overjoyed Lucy. Valene, also in town, reappeared, and Lucy had high hopes that her parents would get back together and move into Southfork. Her dreams were fleeting though, as J.R. once again manipulated the situation, and got both Gary AND Valene to leave once again. Lucy's wish did come true, in part though. A year later, both her parents resurfaced and remarried, moving to Knots Landing, California. There, they would have two more children and give Lucy a little brother and sister, Betsy and Bobby.

Lucy's search for love continued though. After some wild teenage years, which included ditching school, a brief substance abuse problem, and a fling with a closeted homosexual! However, at the 1979 Ewing Barbecue, Lucy thought she did find love, with stunning lawyer Alan Beam. A public fight with J.R. only made him more endearing. Alan seemingly also shared this attraction, and the two began dating, and eventually Alan asked Lucy (who by this time was attending Southern Methodist University) to marry him. Lucy accepted, but came to realize that she didn't love Alan. It all worked out for the best, as Lucy later found out that Alan never loved her. Rather, he was being paid by J.R. to marry her and take her off to Chicago, in order to get Lucy away from Southfork and "out of J.R.'s hair."

Lucy immediately plunged into another affair---this time with her English professor, Greg Forrester. However, she soon learned that Greg had a wife and child so she quickly ended the fling. Depressed one night, Lucy went out and got plastered with some friends, only to meet the man that would change her life, and she would marry—three times.

Mitch Cooper was a parking attendant at the posh nightclub that Lucy was visiting that night, and sent the drunk Lucy home in a cab. His looks and his kindness impressed Lucy, even in her drunken haze. Tracking him down the next day, she flirted with him in hopes of starting a relationship. Mitch was attracted to her, but he was also extremely poor, having to work his way through medical school. He simply did not have time for a relationship. But there was still something there, a spark between the two of them, so they decided to somehow make it work.

Things were not easy, as Mitch came from a poor background in contrast to Lucy's excessive lifestyle. This hurdle was a major obstacle to overcome, but eventually they managed to get married. Married life was not easy though. Lucy's reliance on the Ewing money caused a lot of problems for Mitch. After numerous arguments, Lucy decided to be what Mitch wanted---an independent woman---and got a job as a model, becoming Miss Young Dallas. However, the sheer amount of time that job consumed caused even further strains on their marriage. She began working with photographer Roger Larson, whom she enjoyed a healthy flirtation with. Things with Mitch were still strained, and reached the breaking point when she found out Mitch was spending a lot of his time with an older woman, Evelyn Michaelson. Evelyn confronted Lucy herself and said that she and Mitch were sleeping together (even though they weren't) and that pushed Lucy right into Roger's arms---she slept with him.

However, Roger proved to be obsessed with Lucy. He stalked her, and eventually kidnapped her, beat her and raped her. Lucy was saved by Bobby and Pam, and made a full recovery. However, things with Mitch were still strained. He got a medical position in Atlanta, and Lucy loved him enough to know that things were not going to work out, so they amicably divorced.

Soon, Lucy found out she was pregnant with Roger's baby. Knowing she could never have it, Lucy got an abortion. She soon met Mickey Trotter, Ray's cousin who was staying with Ray, and the two slowly fell in love. They were making plans to marry when Mickey was involved in a terrible car crash involving a drunk Sue Ellen. Paralyzed, Mickey eventually went into a coma and had to rely on life support to survive, a condition that would be permanent for the rest of his life. Taking pity, Ray pulled the life support and Mickey died, leaving Lucy alone once again.

After mourning Mickey, Lucy tried to date Peter Richards, John Ross's counselor, but he just wasn't interested. As Lucy soon found out, he was much more interested in Sue Ellen. Feeling restless, Lucy took a job in 1984 as a diner waitress, in an attempt to "discover herself." It was tough, but Lucy enjoyed the work, and it was there that she met Eddie Cronin, a construction worker who Lucy soon found herself smitten for. Lucy had a lot of faith in Eddie, and eventually agreed to front money for a construction project that he was interested in. Little did Lucy know that Eddie was two-timing her with his mistress Betty, and planning top swindle Lucy out of her money. Betty's conscience got the best of her, and she told Lucy the whole truth about Eddie, whom Lucy got off from all money and dumped.

Around this time, Lucy's thoughts turned to Mitch once more. She contacted him in Atlanta and visited him, and they found that they still had a very strong attraction. Lucy spent a few days there, and the two declared their love. They decided to get remarried, which they soon did at Southfork. However, due to his job, Lucy had to leave Southfork and in 1985, she moved with Mitch to Atlanta.

Life was not a fairy tale though. Her second marriage to Mitch also went sour, resulting in Lucy eventually moving back to Southfork in 1988 and divorcing Mitch again. However, as always, there was a man there to comfort her, and the man was bad news. This time it was Casey Denault, a disgruntled ex-associate of J.R. whom Lucy was immediately attracted to, possibly because of his intense dislike for her uncle. Casey and Lucy began seeing each other, but Lucy wanted to take things slowly, hoping for a relationship that really worked. Casey however, was only interested in Lucy's money and getting as much of it as possible. Once again, Lucy displayed poor judgement and invested in an oil project for Casey. It was April Stevens, an associate of J.R. and Bobby's—who coincidentally was also being swindled by Casey---that opened Lucy's eyes, and the two together teamed up to turn the tables on Casey. Lucy dumped him, leaving him with no girlfriend and no money. Lucy stuck around Dallas until 1990, when she went on an extended traveling trip of Europe.

The following events ocurred on Return to Southfork and should not be considered a part of the Dallas story, but rather as an creative extension.

Although events remain unclear, Lucy eventually returned to the United States, resumed contact with Mitch, and remarried him for the third time. Third time did not prove to be the charm though, as Lucy was once again back at Southfork in 1998, with more problems with Mitch. Mitch served her with divorce papers at that year's Ewing Barbecue, causing Lucy to get extremely drunk to deal with her depression. That same day, in a drunken stupor, Lucy managed to seduce Cliff Barnes, only to have his wife Afton walk in on them!

Thus began a tumultuous time in Lucy's life, as well as a bitter rivalry with Afton. Soon after he one night stand with Cliff, Afton shot him, shocking Lucy. Curious as to whether this had to do with her, Lucy started investigating and talking to Cliff (who survived) and they two actually found an attraction to each other, and began an affair. Afton was not happy with this, and did everything in her power to stop it, including publicly declaring that Cliff beat her (a lie), and masquerading her unborn child as Cliff's (it was really J.R.'s). Eventually, Afton and Lucy had a heated confrontation that resulted in Afton taking a tumble down some stairs and losing her baby, which Lucy learned could only have been J.R.'s, further infuriating Afton.

Around this time, Lucy's longtime best friend, Muriel Gillis, reappeared in Dallas and revealed to Lucy that she used to be a high class hooker, had AIDS and Clayton was one of her clients! Lucy was shocked and disgusted, figuring Clayton had put her grandmother in danger. Later, Miss Ellie explained to Lucy that Muriel was a friend whom they met (unaware of her true identity) in Europe, whom Miss Ellie asked to sleep with Clayton, while Ellie was going through a bedridden phase—and Clayton and Muriel only slept together once, because Clayton was so racked with guilt. Thinking the situation weird, Lucy accepted it, but did not mention the AIDS portion of the story (Clayton and Ellie eventually discovered this on their own and further circumstances revealed they were never at risk). Unfortunately, Muriel died soon after.

Cliff was kidnapped, and Lucy searched for him for days, until finally Cliff contacted her, revealing he had killed his abductor, Arliss Cooper—Afton's mother. He asked for Lucy's help in disposing the body, and Lucy reluctantly agreed, helping Cliff to dispose of Arliss. Little did either of them know that Arliss was not really dead, and soon showed up at Afton's doorstep, with a plot against both Lucy AND Cliff. Her role in covering up Arliss's death caused numerous strains for Cliff and Lucy, strains that were only compounded by Lucy's knowledge that Afton's then deceased unborn child was really J.R.'s, something Cliff did not know. This plunged Lucy and Cliff into a huge fight, at which point Lucy told Cliff they were through. Lucy then began a healthy flirtation with Eric Stone, Marilee Stone's son.

Cliff was soon supposedly killed in the Southfork explosion, and Lucy, realizing that she still cared about him, decided to get involved in the oil business not only in honor of him, but in hopes of doing something for herself. She tried to convince J.R. to let her have a position at Ewing Oil, but he was not about to let her in the company. So, Lucy contacted her father who owned 7.5% of the company, and convinced him to let her control it. Gary agreed. Soon after, John Ross left for an around the world trip, and left Lucy with control over his 25% of the company---leaving Lucy in control of 32.5% of Ewing Oil!

Recently, despite an attempt on her life by Arliss Cooper, Lucy has been thriving. Now a successful business woman, she is making deals left and right for Ewing Oil. Cliff has returned from the seeming dead, but he and Lucy have no plans to get together---that issue was settled before he "died." What is settled is Lucy Ewing's place in the Ewing family dynasty—she has finally grown up, and come into her own.

*This fact comes from the RTS timeline. Lucy was married to Mitch twice on Dallas. However, in JR Returns, JR said to Judge Hooker that "it just so happens that my neice Lucy is married to Afton's brother Mitch". We're unsure whether we were supposed to believe that Lucy and Mitch actually tied the knot for a third time, or if JR was simply lying in order to have Afton committed to the sanitarium.