Lisa Miller grew up in Rockford, Ill as the only child of the Millers. In college, Lisa met Bob Hughes and soon they eloped. While the Millers were pleased with the marriage, Bob's parents, Chris and Nancy, felt that they were too young. However, when Lisa became pregnant they were forced to accept the marriage. Lisa and Bob stayed with his parents. After milking her pregnancy for all it was worth, by claiming unable to do any housework due her "difficult pregnancy," Lisa finally gave birth to a son, Tom. However, motherhood didn't really soften Lisa and she continued to manipulate the Hughes family in order to get her own way, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. Finally after a few years, after which her father had died, Lisa grew tired of being a young doctor's wife and left Bob for a rich shoe salesman named Bruce Elliot. Bruce, found Lisa too unsophisticated, however, and dumped her. Lisa tried to get back together with Bob, but his pride was hurt and he refused to take her back. Hurt, Lisa poisoned Tommy's mind against the Hughes family and soon Tommy began lashing out. Blaming his father for the breakup of the marriage, Tommy destroyed "daddy" dolls and destroyed all gifts that Bob bought him. Then one day, Lisa suddenly left Oakdale with Tommy! Searching for him, the Hugheses discovered that he was placed in a military school in California, so Bob and his father, Chris, retrieved the boy and brought him home. Now with his father, Tommy formed a close bond with his family again. Soon after, Bob received word that Lisa had gone to L.A. looking for Tommy, so he flew over to meet her only to find her nearly catatonic following a rape. Distressed at her condition, Bob brought her home. Also coming back to Oakdale was Sylvia, a nurse who Bob was briefly involved with following his divorce from Lisa. Bob and Sylvia resumed their relationship and became engaged. By this point, Lisa had recovered from her traumatic experience in L.A., and guilted Sylvia about splitting up the family. Not wanting to be a detriment to a potential reconciliation, Sylvia ended it with Bob and left town. However, though Lisa, and Nancy, had hoped that he'd marry her again, he'd rebuff her advances again.

After Bob's rejection, Lisa moved to Chicago and met the Eldridge brothers. She married John but had an affair with his brother. When John found out about the affair, he divorced Lisa and paid her a lot of money to leave town. Lisa left Chicago in disgrace and let her second son, Scott, be raised by a father that never believed him to be his. Lisa told no one about Scott's existence for many, many years. Scott would later resent Lisa and, though they formed a relationship when Scott was an adult, it wasn't a strong one.

After returning to Oakdale, Lisa began an affair with Dr. Michael Shea. Soon, Lisa became pregnant and begged Michael to divorce his wife, Claire Cassen, and marry her. Michael was not about to lose all of his wife's money though and refused. Not knowing what to do, Lisa kept quiet about her pregnancy, especially not telling a teenaged Tommy since she knew he'd be appalled. However, Lisa didn't have much time to figure out what to do because she suddenly went into labor four months early! Miraculously, the child, who she named Charles "Chuckie" survived. Determined to have Michael support his son, Lisa told Claire about her about the baby. Lisa's plan worked; Claire divorced Michael and with the help of Chris Hughes, Lisa got Michael to pay support for his son. A few years later, when Michael became bitter about his life, he tried to get Lisa to marry him so he could be near Chuckie, This time it was Lisa who refused. When Michael caught Tom, now a young adult back from Vietnam, trying to steal from his office, he had the perfect ammunition and, in exchange for his silence, Lisa married him. By this time, Lisa hated Michael's deceptive nature and she refused to sleep with him. When Michael was murdered, Lisa was nowhere to be found and Tom confessed to protect her. By the time Lisa was found, she had amnesia. Eventually, her memory returned and the real murderer confessed.

Afterwards, Lisa became involved with the rich and charming Simon Gibney. Though they became engaged, when it became apparent that he and Tom hated each other, Lisa decided to end the relationship. Afterwards, Lisa created a stir by dating Bob's older brother, Don. At the same time, she was seeing a preacher named Wally Martin who she described as the "gentlest man I've ever known." Soon, Lisa was shocked when she started experiencing pregnancy symptoms. Since she was only sleeping with Don, it had to be his baby but Lisa didn't want him to think that she purposely got pregnant in order to trap him into marriage. Though she had convinced herself she was pregnant, she later learned it was a false alarm, she had an ovarian cyst. Meanwhile, Don was getting jealous of Lisa and Wally's relationship and asked Tom, who was now studying law, to investigate him. Tom refused. Although Lisa did accept Don's marriage proposal, she kept dragging her feet about setting a date because she wasn't sure which man she wanted to be with. However, the choice was made for her when Don, tired of waiting around for Lisa, broke the engagement and left town. Now with Wally, Lisa realized that she needed more excitement than he could give her and she ended their relationship.

Lisa then became involved with lawyer Grant Colman while also being enchanted with the younger Jay Stallings, whom Grant didn't trust. Grant's fears seemed to be realized when Lisa was almost killed in a series of accidents when Jay was around. Although Grant suspected that Jay was trying to murder Lisa, in reality, Jay was the target. The culprit was Jay's stepfather, Gil Stallings, who wanted to collect Jay's hefty inheritance. Finally, Gil held Lisa hostage and set fire to the bookstore that Lisa had taken over from Bob's sister, Penny. Luckily, she was rescued by Grant and the two became engaged. Unfortunately, on her wedding day, Grant's ex-wife, Joyce, broke the news that they had a child together after they separated and she gave it up for adoption. Grant investigated his ex's claims and found his son, Teddy Ellison. Grant decided to let his son be raised by his adopted family and he and Lisa married despite more interference from Joyce. Shortly after her marriage to Grant, Lisa was devastated when a teenaged Chuckie was killed in a car accident when Tom was driving him home from school. Thankfully, Lisa received a lot of love and support, especially from Nancy and Grant.

Unfortunately the Colman marriage would deteriorate due to Lisa's jealousy of other women and her disenchantment over his working long hours. Soon, Lisa started flirting with Bob. Lisa asked Grant for a separation, because she believed she was still in love with Bob, but Bob was drawn to the enticing Valerie Conway. During his separation from Lisa, Grant had also become interested in Valerie, and Valerie didn't hesitate to drop hints to the unsuspecting Lisa that if she weren't careful, someone just might steal Grant away, and that someone might be Valerie. Lisa found this very amusing, but when Bob rejected her, she realized she had to work fast to win Grant back or she'd lose them both. Unfortunately for Lisa, Grant decided that he wanted a divorce. Lisa was crushed! She had to find a way to win him back! She begged for a second chance and got it, at which point she decided to make friends with Valerie and play matchmaker with her and Bob. Lisa confided in her mother, Alma, that Grant seemed distracted and Lisa was determined to find out why. It didn't take Lisa long to figure out the distraction was Valerie. Grant was too moral to leave Lisa, and Valerie didn't want to cause him any more pain, so she turned to the intense, volatile Dr. Alex Keith for comfort. Meanwhile, Lisa was saddened at the death of her beloved mother Alma who always supported Lisa no matter what.

Around this time, Valerie's sleazy ex-husband, Nick Conway, arrived in town low on funds and looking for a piece of Valerie's farm. Valerie refused and told him he'd have to talk to her lawyer, Grant Colman. Nick promptly filed a lawsuit against her. Lisa plotted to get Nick back into Valerie's life and succeeded in getting him to drop the lawsuit, which led Valerie to wonder what her ex-husband was up to. Valerie devised a plan to make Grant want her. It worked, and Grant asked Lisa for a divorce. Lisa was not on to be outsmarted and feigned illness and told Grant she'd deal with the divorce when she was better. Later, she told Valerie that she knew Grant was seeing another woman and she couldn't take it anymore -- she was going to kill herself! If Valerie didn't believe her, Lisa said, she could come to the apartment tomorrow at a specified time. When Valerie arrived, no one was there. At the same time, Lisa miraculously appeared at Valerie's farm! To Valerie's dismay, Grant refused to see this staged suicide as one of Lisa's ploys, and Val turned to Nick for comfort, unaware that all he wanted was her money. Believing that Nick had changed, Valerie agreed to remarry him. Tired of waiting for her lover, Nick Conway, in New York, gum-chewing lowlife Tina Cornell arrived in Oakdale. Unaware that Lisa was on to them, Nick told Tina to sit tight; Valerie had signed over half the farm to him, and soon he and Tina would have enough money to get married. However, Nick wanted to go further -- he wanted kill his ex-wife. That was too much for Tina. She confided in Lisa, and despite the fact that they were rivals, Lisa decided to warn Valerie. Valerie, however, thought it was another of Lisa's tricks.

When Tina arrived at the farm, she spotted Nick about to drop a bale of hay on the unsuspecting Valerie. Shouting a warning, Tina pushed Val out of the way just as the hay fell, and a stunned Nick fell to the ground and was instantly killed. Valerie was in shock while Tina lay injured under the bale of hay. After the accident, in December 1978, Tina developed a severe case of agoraphobia and Lisa asked her to move in with her and Grant to recuperate. While Tina was convalescing at Lisa and Grant's home, she claimed that her agoraphobia was getting worse. It wasn't her illness that was keeping Tina at the Colman's home, however; it was her infatuation with Grant! When Lisa came home early one day and discovered Tina had been out, she realized she was faking her agoraphobia. Lisa ordered her to leave. Grant was appalled by Lisa's cruelty. Tina retaliated by telling Grant about Lisa's fake suicide an angry Grant moved back into the Lawyers Club. Tina then landed a secretarial job at Lowell, Hughes & Colman, and one night while working late, she offered to massage Grant's tired neck. The massage led to a kiss, and Grant suddenly realized Lisa had been right about Tina. He'd had it with scheming woman, and fired Tina (who left town in disgrace) and also told Lisa it was over for them as well and sought a divorce from her.

Having felt as if she lost Grant forever, Lisa rode out of Oakdale and found herself at a country estate called The Willows. There she became very close to the proprietor, Hadley Bennet. Unbeknownst to Lisa, the Willows had a deep dark secret involving Bennet, his housekeeper Hester, and Bennet's late wife, who was the spitting image of Lisa! Meanwhile, back in Oakdale, Grant was getting more and more worried about Lisa who was isolating herself at the Willows. Though it was suspected that Bennet killed his late wife, in the end it was learned that Hester was the one who did it. When the mystery of the Willows was over, Lisa and Grant decided to give their marriage another chance. However, at this point, a remorseful Joyce (who had been presumed dead) came back to town to atone for her crimes. When Joyce claimed to be deathly ill, Grant took pity on her and let her back into his life. However, Lisa suspected that Joyce was lying about her illness and investigated, which made Grant furious. Angry with Lisa over her meddling, he was shocked when he learned she was right--Joyce was lying all along! Angry, Grant wrote Joyce out of his life and attempted to go back to Lisa. However, Lisa had already been hurt by his unwillingness to trust her and refused. Understanding that they just couldn't make it work, Grant left Oakdale to practice law in Laramie, Wyoming.

Lisa's next husband was wealthy businessman Whit McColl, whom she secretly married in Paris. At the time of their arrival, Lisa's new daughter-in-law, Margo, a policewoman, was assigned to a rape/murder case at Lisa's neighborhood. Upon arriving at her Lisa's apartment, an exhausted Margo decided to settle in for a quick nap. Not long after, Whit arrived and believing it was Lisa in bed, he started stroking her hair. Margo, upon seeing Whit, immediately suspected that he was the wanted rapist and she knocked him unconscious! By the time Whit awoke, Lisa had returned home and explained to Margo that Whit was her new husband. Though Margo apologized for her actions, an angry Whit wouldn't hear it and demanded that she be thrown off the force while his oldest son, Brian, threatened to bring her up on charges. Thanks to Tom's defense, Margo was re-instated at the force. Tom, already displeased that Lisa impulsively married a man she just met in Paris, was skeptical of his new stepfather. In addition to Tom's dissatisfaction with Whit, Lisa also had to deal with Whit's problems with Lucinda Walsh, who blamed Whit for the suicide of her former husband, Martin Guest. Lisa's feud with Lucinda began when Lucinda tried, and succeeded, in taking over Whit's business. Despite some questions about Whit's ethics, they remained happily married and Lisa became very close to Whit's sons Brian and Kirk. Although Whit saw Kirk as a troublemaker, Lisa took to him and correctly decided that a friendship with Bob's daughter, Frannie, would be good for the boy. She also defended Brian's need to break away from his father and start his own newspaper, The Argus.. Tragically, Whit was murdered by the mother of his illegitimate son, Dorothy Connors.

Lisa then fell for Earl Mitchell, who was intrigued by both Lisa and Lucinda. The mysterious Earl had a habit of disappearing for weeks on end. Despite his secrecy, he and Lisa married and Lisa formed a close bond with Earl's niece Shannon. A year into their marriage, during which Earl became very curious about a Scotsman named Duncan McKechnie, Earl suddenly left Oakdale. Not long after, Lisa received two surprises: a surprise visit from Grant and a message from Earl saying that James Stenbeck found him. Suddenly, Lisa found herself in the middle of a mystery when a reporter named Glenn Harrington arrived stating that he'd met Earl in South Africa and believed he'd been kidnapped! He stated that Earl's trench coat was found drenched in blood, but it wasn't human blood. Someone was making it look as if Earl was dead. Suspicion fell on Grant since, as Lisa's lawyer, he persuaded Lisa to cut Earl out of her will (at the time she thought he was having an affair) and she ended up leaving a large chunk of her estate to Grant. Meanwhile, Lisa received a call from someone who claimed to have info on Earl's whereabouts. When Lisa drove to the rendezvous, her brakes failed! Fortunately she survived, but then she started seeing visions of Earl and hearing voices. Seeing that she was stressed, Grant persuaded her to sign over her power of attorney to him and go away for a while. Later, Tom and Margo discovered that Glenn wasn't a reporter; he was an undercover agent. Finally, Glenn was revealed as the man going after Lisa. His plan was to kill Lisa, then marry Shannon (who'd collect her inheritance) and kill her. Luckily, Glenn was stopped and the truth about the late Earl Mitchell was finally revealed--he was an Interpol agent investigating James Stenbeck.

After several years as a widow, Lisa married Maltese businessman, Eduardo Grimaldi. Tragically, soon after they married, Eduardo was attacked and rushed to Memorial Hospital where he died. Lisa blamed his doctor, John Dixon, for Eduardo's death and sued him for malpractice. The lawsuit almost destroyed John's career until it was discovered that Eduardo was murdered by his cousin's wife, Orlena. John got revenge on Lisa by romancing her then publicly humiliating her at their "engagement" party.

Lisa then became involved with Martin Chedwyn, only to discover that he was using her to launder his assets out of Hong Kong before the change in government. He held Lisa hostage on a yacht and forced her to marry him. The marriage was annulled after his arrest. When John helped to rescue Lisa, she forgave him for humiliating her and the two became friends.

Since then, Lisa became a background presence in Oakdale, trading town gossip and sometimes dispensing romantic advice.