Young Robin Lang was raised without a stable father figure. Born to Dick Grant and Kathy Roberts, while Robin was still a baby, Kathy was forced to admit that Dick wasn't her father—the late Bob Lang was. Already out of love with Kathy, Dick quickly divorced her and paid no thought to Robin. From that point on, her mother, who often left her in the care of Meta Bauer, raised Robin alone. Though she dated, Kathy still pined away for Dick and eventually left town with Robin, eventually placing her in a Swiss boarding school. Later, Robin was brought back home. Now, a spoiled, belligerent preteen, Robin immediately locked horns with Mark Holden, Kathy's fiancé. As the Bauers watched Kathy's daughter Robin, grow up, it was evident that the apple had not fallen far from the tree. Robin manipulated Kathy insufferably with guilt and threats to run away, all in the interest of keeping Mark and Kathy apart. In truth, Kathy wanted to spare Robin the pain she had known as a teenager when her father married Meta without her approval. Mark was not one to be pushed around, however, and he saw Robin for the precocious and manipulative child she was. Mark convinced Kathy to marry him, but the new Holden household was a battleground from day one. Robin continued to dictate to Kathy, while Meta constantly coddled Robin and undermined Mark's authority. When Mark's teenage sister, Alice, came to stay with the Holdens, and Robin took an instant dislike to her despite Alice's efforts to be friendly. When young Mike Bauer (Bill and Bert's son) became interested in Alice, Robin started flirting with him just out of spite. Meanwhile, Kathy learned she was pregnant but held off telling Mark and Robin for fear of escalating the conflict between them. Unfortunately, a somewhat vindictive Alice didn't hang up one of the phones in the Holden household, one day, trying to get Robin in trouble. Robin picked up the receiver only to eavesdrop on a phone conversation between Kathy and her obstetrician. Robin blurted the news to Mark, who was furious with Kathy for keeping it from him! The only people Robin felt she could count on were Meta and Dr. Paul Fletcher. When Paul treated Robin for a high fever, they formed a curious father-daughter bond that was born of a shared loneliness and alienation.

By the end of 1957, a situation arose that threw Paul into conflict not only with Dick Grant, but with Mark as well. The situation in question, again, would start out as part of the feud between Alice and Robin over Mike Bauer. One day, Alice attempted to rig a chair in the Holden kitchen to hurt Robin. Unfortunately, while putting up shelves in her kitchen, Kathy got on the chair, fell, lost her baby and became paralyzed. Dick recommended that Kathy undergo surgery on her legs, but Paul knew that Kathy had only one chance in a thousand of walking again and accused Dick of offering her false hope. Kathy and Robin were more comfortable with Paul's direct approach than Mark was. Mark was not happy that Robin had latched on to Paul as a father figure, and he blamed Paul for widening the gap between him and Robin. Fortunately, Kathy's paralysis jolted Robin into accepting Mark as her father and he happily adopted her.

Sadly, in 1958, tragedy struck. While Kathy was outside in her wheelchair, two children on bicycles accidentally knocked her off the sidewalk into heavy traffic. She was killed instantly. Her horrible death brought Meta and Robin even closer together, to the point where Meta took Robin into her home. Insecure and desperate to have a stable family life, Robin attempted to bring Meta and Mark together at every turn. However, Mark was quite taken with his soft spoken new housekeeper, Ruth Jannings. Before long, Ruth agreed to see Mark socially, much to the consternation of Meta and Robin, both of whom still harbored delusions of Mark marrying Meta. As 1958 turned into 1959, Bert Bauer tried to make Meta and Robin accept Mark and Ruth's romance, but to no avail. Though, Ruth wanted to cool the relationship for Robin's sake, Mark refused to let Robin call the shots. Ever the suffering diva, Robin climbed onto a balcony in the rain and purposely aught pneumonia. Paul placed the blame squarely on Meta for having fed Robin's fantasies about a reconciliation between Meta and Mark. For once, both Bert and Mark agreed with Paul, and the three angrily told Meta to get on with her life. Meta finally came to terms with the fact that Mark would never love her, and she accepted Bruce Banning's long standing marriage proposal. Mark and Ruth eloped to San Francisco, telling everyone except Alice that it was a business trip.

In the meantime, Bert was delighted when her oldest son, Mike ,asked Robin to the senior prom. She believed that with a normal teenage existence, Robin would blossom into a fine young lady. However, it was not to be. When an excited Robin called Mark's hotel, the operator told her that Mark was out, "but Mrs. Holden is in." Her security shattered once again, Robin ran away. To make Mark feel guilty, she sent him a fake ransom note to lead him to believe she had been kidnapped. Everyone realized it was a hoax, however, when Robin showed up at her grandmother Helen Allen's apartment in New York. By the fall, Robin found a permanent home, at long last, with Meta and Bruce, who were now happily married. She continued to oppose Mark and Ruth's marriage until Ruth's son, Karl Jannings, arrived in Los Angeles to attend college. Unlike Robin, he was delighted with the marriage and convinced Robin to accept it -- or so she led him to believe. Mike befriended Karl and watched him become emotionally involved with Robin. However, Robin had no true feelings for Karl and was only leading him on with the intention of hurting him -- all to get back at Ruth for marrying Mark! Mike caught on to Robin's game and told his parents. Bert begin to resent Meta for having kept this bad seed in the family. What Mike couldn't admit to himself, however, was that he was becoming intensely attracted to Robin despite his better judgment, and the feeling was mutual. Mike's childhood had been the opposite of Robin's. While he had the secure home base of a loving family, the only family stability Robin had ever experienced was during those periods when she lived with Meta, who was also Mike's aunt. Robin felt trapped, for Karl was a controlling young man who kept his emotions close to the surface. She let Karl press her into an engagement she didn't really want, and soon she began to suffer from fevers and headaches. When Robin consulted Paul for treatment, he instinctively knew that her symptoms were a sign that she didn't love Karl. Dick was helping Robin, too and advised Karl to postpone he wedding, but Karl angrily refused. Torn and guilty, Mike confided to his father, Bill, that he loved Robin but could not bring himself to hurt Karl. Bill understood, for he regretted having held a grudge against Robin's mother, Kathy. Both Bill and Mike knew, however, that Bert would not be of the same mind-set.

By the spring of 1960, Robin finally took control of the situation, albeit impulsively. She admitted to Karl that she had never loved him and broke their engagement. Without missing a beat, Robin talked Mike into eloping! When the newlyweds returned and revealed the news to Karl on Meta's patio, Karl lunged at Mike, fell on an iron table and sustained severe head injuries. Karl died on the operating table and Mike was charged with manslaughter. Happily, he was cleared when the death was ruled an accident. Anxious for a new life together without Robin's constant machinations, Mark and Ruth left town. Unfortunately, Karl's death brought more guilt in Mike than it did Robin. Insensitive to Mike's feelings about Karl's death, Robin started spending time with the older, worldly Alex Bowden, an internationally known artist and entrepreneur. A dapper, 40-year-old womanizer, he chanced to meet the 18-year-old Robin on a bridge in a park. When Robin complained to Alex about her marriage, Alex rudely chided her for being a self-indulgent, spoiled brat -- and a curious attraction was born. While Mike was out of town, Robin posed for Alex and he milked her loneliness ostensibly to draw "that lonely, lost expression. Meanwhile, Bert was fit to be tied over Mike and Robin's marriage. She deeply regretted having promoted a romance between her son and Robin since she felt that Robiin had become a cunning, manipulative brat who orchestrated people's lives according to her whims. Hell-bent on pushing Robin out of the Bauer family fold, Bert was secretly glad to learn of Robin and Alex's mutual attraction, and she encouraged Alex to woo Robin away from Mike. By the time Bert fully realized what an operator Alex was, she had second thoughts, but it was too late. Robin had fallen under Alex's spell. In Alex, Robin saw someone whom she thought would always protect her, and he showered her with affection and attention such as she had never known before. Convinced that they were no longer in love, Mike agreed to an annulment, and Robin entered, once again, into an ill-considered marriage that was doomed from the start.

Robin and Alex's Hawaiian honeymoon was a disaster. Alex was a virtual Svengali, planning Robin's every move and becoming jealous if she cast even a glance at another man. Within days, Alex worked himself into a gastric ulcer, and the harried honeymooners returned home, where Alex continued to feel insecure and threatened by Robin's ties to the Bannings and the Bauers. Unable to understand his wife's irrational expectations or evaluate her irresponsible behavior, and tired of his father-figure role, Alex demanded that Robin behave like a wife instead of a child bride. By 1962, Mike had returned from Venezuela and was studying law. Having not fully given up on Robin, he was quick to notice Alex's jealous reaction to his return. Mike was confident that the Bowden's marriage would collapse under its own flimsy weight. Robin didn't help the situation when she played hot and cold with Mike and agreed to a few secret, albeit sexless, meetings with him. In his dual role of Robin's guardian and Alex's doctor, Bruce Banning began to sympathize with Alex and helped him conquer his jealousy. Banning sternly told Robin to grow up and take responsibility for her life. Recognizing that his loveless marriage to Robin was on the rocks, Alex began to look once again in the direction of his ex, Doris Crandall. The stage was now set for a jarring chain of events that had a ripple effect on the Bauers, the Fletchers and everyone else in their circle. In her determination to save Paul's clinic, Doris convinced Alex to invest in the facility. However, Paul's wealthy wife, Anne was livid at this development and served Paul with an ultimatum: the clinic or their marriage. She prevailed upon Robin to change Alex's mind about the loan, insidiously implying that the business deal was evidence of a renewed bond between Alex and Doris. Anne and Robin lashed into Doris so brutally that Doris went on a prolonged alcoholic bender. When she finally resurfaced back at the clinic, she had Anne's gun and threatened suicide. In an effort to retrieve the gun, Paul grappled with Doris. The gun went off and the bullet hit Anne. She died on the operating table. In the end, Doris testified that Anne's shooting was accidental.

After her divorce from Alex, Robin found herself falling in love with Paul and the two announced their engagement in 1964, despite resistance from his young son, Johnny. Unbeknownst to Paul, his sister Jane and Johnny's grandfather, Henry Benedict, were planting doubts in Johnny's mind about Robin. Johnny became quite the little tyrant. Helene Benedict tried to convince her grandson to accept Paul and Robin's engagement, but Henry and Paul's half-sister, Jane kept indulging the boy. Buckling under the child's pressure, Robin called off her engagement to Paul and went to New York. George Hayes eventually tracked her down and innocently left her address with Jane while Paul went to fetch his lady love. Salivating at this golden opportunity to wreak more havoc, Jane called Robin and tipped her off that Paul was on his way, adding that she thought she did the right thing by leaving him. Robin eluded Paul, but he caught up with her and they married secretly in New York. Paul and Robin returned home and told no one about their marriage except for Meta, Bruce, and George, who decided not to tell Paul about Jane's damaging phone call to Robin in New York. The newlyweds led separated lives for a while until Robin accompanied Paul to a medical convention. When Jane called Paul's hotel to tell him that Johnny was having problems at school, the desk clerk told her that Paul was with "Mrs. Fletcher." Devastated, Jane told Johnny that his daddy had lied to them and Johnny ran away. When he turned up later at the Children's Zoo, the boy not only rejected Paul and Robin, but added his aunt Jane to his list. Johnny stayed briefly with his grandparents in San Francisco and returned home to Paul at Helen's firm insistence. Unfortunately, Johnny was so insolent to Robin that Paul reluctantly allowed him to go back to his grandparents for an extended stay. Not long after, however, Paul learned that Helene had been killed in a car accident.

In 1966, Paul and Robin moved to the mid-western town of Springfield, so that Paul could accept the position of chief-of-staff at the Cedars' branch hospital in that town. Johnny came to Springfield when he turned seventeen and, reluctantly, enrolled in public school. Life for the Fletchers was going to be rocky, to say the least, with Johnny in their new home in Springfield. Things ended tragically when one day when a pregnant Robin was cleaning Johnny's room, she fell and suffered a miscarriage. Depressed, Robin blamed Johnny and refused his pleas for forgiveness. Robin's attitude shocked Paul and soon the two started arguing. Depressed even further, Robin soon became jealous of Paul's friendship with Sara McIntrye and believing Paul would leave her, she committed suicide by throwing herself in front of a moving truck.