Erica Kane was present on the series’ pilot, and has been on the show ever since. The most-recognized character on daytime, her loves and exploits are the stuff of legends.

In 1970, Erica was a high school senior intent on breaking up the relationship between Tara Martin and Phil Brent. Unsuccessful, she turned her sights to Tara’s brother Jeff, and he became her first husband. Being the wife of a medical intern wasn’t what Erica wanted, though, and she became a model, soon finding herself in an affair with Jason Maxwell, her agent. In 1973, certain that she was on the verge of fame and fortune, Erica secretly aborted Jeff's baby (the first abortion in daytime television). Jeff stood trial for Jason's murder, but eventually it was proven that Mona had killed him.

In 1974, Erica, now divorced from Jeff, made another play for Phil Brent, and this time she bagged him. She miscarried their child, though, had a nervous collapse, and after the divorce, began an affair with Phil’s father and Mona’s best friend, the incomparable Nick Davis. (When she later had an affair with Charlie Brent, Nick’s grandson, Nick was heard to remark that she’d hit the trifecta, being involved with three generations of Davis/Brent men.) Around the same time, she was attracted to a young music instructor at the college, and Mona was forced to admit that Mark Dalton was in fact Erica’s half brother, product of an affair between her father, movie producer Eric Kane, and his secretary Maureen Dalton.

The affair between Erica and Nick continued until Mona caught them in bed together, and they went so far as to get engaged, but Nick broke the engagement and Erica married ex-footballer turned restauranteur Tom Cudahy. That marriage floundered after Tom discovered that Erica was secretly taking birth control pills. She and her cosmetics company, Sensuelle, became involved in a tug of war between rivals Brandon Kingsley and Kent Bogard, but her affair with Bogard derailed when Silver, her sister, appeared. Kent was accidentally shot by Erica, and Silver was revealed to be an impostor named Connie Wilkes and sent to prison.

In 1983, Erica hired Mike Roy, the man who would be the love of her life, to ghost write her biography, Raising Kane. Despite her feelings for the author, she wed millionaire Adam Chandler in 1984 in order to win the part of herself in the movie version of the book. Eventually, she extricated herself from their volatile marriage, but it was too late: Mike was shot and killed.

In 1985, Erica fell in love in Jeremy Hunter, an artist who once saved Mike's life. But their romance was thwarted at every turn by a formidable rival, Jeremy’s stepmother, Natalie Hunter, who wanted him for herself. In 1987, Noelle Keaton was revealed to be the real Silver Kane, She became obsessed with Jeremy and was killed in self-defense by Natalie.

While all this was going on, Erica helped Mark beat his addiction to drugs. Shortly thereafter, she set her sights on wealthy politician Travis Montgomery, and in 1988, after a life-threatening bout with toxemia, Erica gave birth to daughter Bianca. Travis had himself kidnapped in a scheme to keep control of his floundering empire and Erica divorced him.

Erica's father, Eric, left her for a second time in 1989, after she discovered that he wasn't dead as he had led everyone to believe but traveling with a circus as Barney The Clown. In 1990, Erica broke her engagement to Travis's brother, lawyer Jackson Montgomery, and remarried Travis to cheer Bianca, who had contracted Reye's syndrome. The reunion was short-lived; Erica and Jackson resumed their relationship. Erica and Jack eventually parted company, and she took as her next husband Dimitri Marick, whose original purpose had been to take over Erica’s company, Enchantment. In 1992, Kendall Hart showed up and was revealed to be the product of Erica's rape at age 14 by Richard Fields, a friend of her father's. She and Dimitri divorced after she stabbed him, thinking he had raped Kendall.

1994 was a bad year for our girl. She lost her mother Mona, and became addicted to painkillers after a fall from scaffolding. She overcame both the addiction and an affair with the evil Dr. Jonathan Kinder, then learned that she was pregnant with Dimitri's child. Still in love with him, she asked Dimitri to remarry her, unaware that he had slept with their sister-in-law, Maria Grey, after catching Erica in what appeared to be a compromising position with Jonathan.

Erica miscarried Dimitri’s baby on what would have been their wedding day (round two). After learning about Dimitri’s fling with Maria, she followed Maria to a cabin and confronted her, upsetting Maria so much she went into premature labor. Erica was racing to the hospital with the baby when she lost control of the car, and the baby was supposedly lost. She later rescued the baby from Esther Glynn and tried to pass it off as her own adopted daughter Sonya. She eventually admitted the truth, and was sent to prison, but did manage to resume her love affair with Jackson Montgomery.

Erica was set to marry Jackson when presumed-dead Mike Roy turned up – his death had been a set up, as he was an international spy. Erica was torn, but finally chose Jack – but not before she slept with Mike one last time. Jack found out and the marriage was off.

In 1999, Erica was in the car with David Hayward when he drove to Pine Valley in a blizzard, intent on proving that Adam was the father of Liza’s baby. The car crashed, and while David was able to save Erica’s life, he couldn’t save her famous face from great damage. David’s mother Vanessa finally told Erica about the scarring, and she responded to her ruined face and modeling career by locking David in her basement, hand in a vise. She wanted to ruin his career as he had ruined hers, but after he told her the story of how his mother had goaded his father into suicide, she decided hurting him would not help her feel better, and freed him. Erica and David went to Brazil, where she had her face fixed by a plastic surgeon, and the two began to fall in love. They grew closer when she helped him prove that his mother, rather than his brother Leo, had killed gigolo Paolo, and Erica let Leo move into her home with her. David asked her to marry him, but the relationship collapsed under the weight of mutual lack of trust and they agreed to part.