After Tim lost his battle with leukemia, he was replaced at Memorial Hospital by Dr. David Stewart, a research physician who relocated from New York City with his wife Betty and their sons, Dan and Paul.  Everybody couldn't help but notice that Betty's world revolved around her son Dan.

Ellen meanwhile couldn't forget her son Jimy and longed to be around children.  When she was asked to babysit for Paul and Dan, she jumped at the chance.  One day Ellen spotted a photo of Dan as an infant and she was shocked to see he was the spitting image of her own Jimmy.  Could the Stewarts have adopted her son?  Ellen managed to get Dan's fingerprints and took them to Columbus where she confirmed her suspicions.  Upon her return to Oakdale, Ellen confronted David and Betty with her findings, then instituted a custody battle.  The judge ruled in favor of the Stewarts, crushing Ellen .

Penny's marriage to Jeff crumbled when he left town after realizing he was bad in business, but a good piano player.  He began playing in a bar under the name Jack Bailey, and became rather successful.  When he came back to Penny she was glad to see him and they resumed their marriage.  Penny took the news that she couldn't have children with courage and she and Jeff planned to adopt.  On the way to a family function, the car skidded and hit a concrete barrier.  Jeff was killed instantly and Penny remained in a coma.  When she awoke, she suffered from amnesia.

College student Bob Hughes planned a career in medicine, but was captivated by Lisa Miller.  She used all her cunning wiles to convince Bob to marry her, knowing life as a doctor's wife would mean financial security.  Lisa succeeded, thrilling her parents, Henry and Alma.  Bob knew his mom would disapprove so he asked Lisa to keep things a secret.  When Lisa became pregnant, she told Nancy the truth.  Pa convinced Chris and Nancy to let Bob and Lisa move in with them.  Bob took a part-time job at a drug store and won an internship with the prestigious Dr. Doug Cassen.  After Thomas Christopher Hughes was born, Lisa became bored with the life of a doctor's wife.  Sheleft the baby with Nancy and took off to be with her parents.  Bob was too busy working long hours as an intern and then resident to worry about his wife's gallivanting.

When Lisa began an affair with shoe tycoon Bruce Elliot, she asked Bob for a divorce.  But Bruce tired of Lisa's uncultured ways and ended their relationship.  To save face, Lisa insisted it was she who called off their engagement, then asked Bob to reconcile, but he refused.

Betty Stewart contracted double pneumonia and died.  Ellen thought that meant she would be able to get her son back.  She tried to woo David, but he wasn't interested in the least.  After David saw Ellen care for Dan, who took ill with encephalitis, he sang a different tune.  He proposed to her, but his crazed housekeeper threatened to tell Dan who his mom was.  After a struggle with Ellen, Franny was killed when Ellen hit her with a statue.  She confessed to murder and was sent to prison, but married David upon her release.

Penny became involved with the mysterious Neil Wade, who turned out to be a doctor who'd left he practice after he couldn't save his father.  When Penny's grandfather needed an emergency tracheotomy, Neil stepped in and Penny discovered his secret past.  Penny and Neil married, but when he died of an embolism, she realized that her luck with men was pitiful.

Lisa secretly married attorney John Eldridge, then sued Bob for custody of their son Tom.  When she was granted custody, she took Tom to Chicago and informed him of his new stepdad.  Tom called his father and asked him to take him home, which he did.

Dan Stewart married Susan Burke, but continued to live at his father's house, leading a double life.  When Susan became pregnant, Dan was thrilled, but Susan wasn't sure she was ready to give up her life.  When she suffered a miscarriage, Dan's deceit came out and his father threw him out of the house.  Around this time Dan discovered that Dr. Michael Shea was giving his patients faulty diagnoses.  He confronted the doctor who tormented Dan by revealing his stepmother was actually his mom.  When Ellen developed a perforated ulcer, Dan was the only one available for surgery.  Then he asked his father for the truth.  Upon hearing the story of his background, including the custody battle and his adopted mom's death, Dan went to Ellen and said he was proud to be her son.  He then confided in his new friend Liz Talbot.

After a while they began an affari with Liz becoming pregnant.  Dan's brother Paul was also in love with Liz.  He gallantly offered to marry her, without asking who the father of her unborn child was.  Susan then informed Dan that she was pregnant and thrilled to have a child, saying Ellen had encouraged her.  Dan was so distraught he disowned Ellen.  Susan and he had a bitter fight and she fell down a flight of stairs miscarrying.  When Dan learned he was the father of Liz's baby, Betsy, he was stuck in a loveless marriage with Susan. 

From picture captions.  1968: Dan and Susan weren't exactly living the life of wedded bliss, especially since Susan didn't want children and Dan did.  1968:  Lisa's relationship with Pa Hughes was strained when she spread rumors in the family that he didn't approve of her.  Then she tried to convince him to move out of the Hughes home and back to the farm with his other son, John. 1969:  Even after the death of his son Jim, Judge Lowell remained very close with his daughter-in-law Claire.