H.B. Lewis made his grand entrance to Springfield in 1983 after wealthy Henry Chamberlain suffered a severe heart attack upon seeing Annabelle Simms for the first time. It turned out Annabelle was the spitting image of a woman he used to know named Annie. While convalescing at Cedars hospital, Henry scribbled on a notepad the name of his old friend, H.B. Soon the boisterous patriarch from Tulsa made his grand entrance into Springfield and gave Henry the will to live. Following H.B.'s introduction to Springfield, a frightening chain of events followed. Psychiatrist Dr. Gwen Harding, was fatally strangled, H.B.'s son, Billy's car exploded, but luckily no one was in it. Then one day, when Annabelle visited Henry in the hospital after Henry asked her to come to him, his life support machines started malfunctioning, Luckily Henry survived. At this time, H.B. was there to visit Henry and he blamed Annabelle for the malfunctioning machines. Later, after HB suddenly disappeared and arranged for Annabelle to come to a house. When she arrived, H.B. threatened her with a gun, warning her to leave them all alone! At this moment, Tony Reardon arrived and overpowered H.B. When Annabelle called D.A. Ross Marler and Ross arrived, a fearful H,B, told him that all families from the fishing trip photo that Tony had were in danger. Ross let H.B. go and H.B. was later shot and slightly wounded. Terror began running rampant in Springfield!

After several Springfield citizens were almost killed by a bomb but luckily saved by Ross Marler, Henry, fearing for his friends and loved ones, finally admitted the truth behind the 20-year-old photograph. Unbeknownst to the Bauers, Lewises and Reardons, he and H.B., Bill Bauer, Tom Reardon, and Brandon Spaulding all knew each other through business connections. Some 20 years ago they had taken a fishing trip together to Lake Elizabeth, where they drunkenly but harmlessly caroused with a good-time girl named Annie. One night all the men, except for Tom Reardon (who later disappeared), took Annie out on a boat. They dared her to strip down and jump into the lake, which she did. Later her body was found on the shore, with her head beat in! The jittery and embarrassed men took an oath of secrecy and swore never to discuss the incident. Unbeknownst to everyone, when Annie's husband, Eli, learned about Annie's romp with the jolly fisherman, he assaulted her and left her to drown. Eli also shot and killed Tom Reardon and buried his body in an undisclosed location. Meanwhile, in the present a demented Eli tried to kill Annabelle, thinking that she was Annie. Luckily for Annabelle, H.B. happened upon the scene and shot Eli dead.

In the midst of this intrigue Billy and Henry's daughter, Vanessa, confessed their love for each other, and, to the delight of H.B. and Henry, they made plans to marry. Unfortunately, Billy had competition in the form of Alan Spaulding, who tried to break up the couple by bringing Billy's ex-wife, Reva to town. Though Reva tried to claim that they were not legally divorced and demanded $ 5 million for a divorce, the divorce decree was finally found. Not long after, Billy persuaded his younger brother Josh, with Reva's help, to merge his company LTA with Lewis Oil in order to provide better competition to Spaulding Enterprises. By this time, Vanessa was getting tired of waiting for Billy and was falling prey to Alan's charms. Determined to marry the woman he loved, Billy threw her over his shoulder in front of everyone at a gala in February 1984 and stated that no one would leave until she was his wife! Billy and Vanessa got married on the spot! Meanwhile, old feelings between childhood sweethearts Josh and Reva were rekindling and to H.B.'s horror (since he considered Reva a gold-digger), the two made plans to marry. Before they could make it official, Josh learned from Anita, Reva's maid that Alan bribed her to come to town to break up Vanessa and Billy. H.B was relieved when Josh bitterly called off the wedding, however to Josh and Billy's shock, H.B. decided to further drive Reva away from his son by bribing her to marry him.

As time went on, H.B. developed a soft spot for Reva. Despite her marriage to H.B. though, Josh and Reva couldn't resist their passion, and after months of sexual tension. One rainy night, Reva climbed into Josh's bed when H.B. was not around and they made love. Later that night Billy found them and pulled her out of bed. Feeling like a loser, the scarlet woman hightailed it back home to Tulsa. Just as Josh tracked her down in Tulsa and begged her to run away with him, they heard from Josh's sister, Trish that a heartsick H.B. was in failing health. The lovers returned to Springfield and gave H.B. the will to live. Shortly after, Reva discovered she was pregnant with H.B.'s baby. A heartbroken Josh sadly told her to take good care of his "daddy" and left to work on an oilrig in the Gulf of Mexico. Tragically, one night in February 1985, a dazed and drugged Vanessa (who had become addicted to tranquilizers) ran Reva over with a car. As a result, Reva tragically lost the baby she and H.B. were expecting. Reva forgave Vanessa, however, and was happy to see her conquer her addiction.

Soon after, Kyle Sampson succeeded in wresting Lewis Oil away from Billy. Consumed with revenge over Kyle's deceit, Billy's daughter, Mindy, got drunk and shot Kyle. This brought Kyle's estranged mother, Sally Gleason to Springfield. Sally told H.B. that Kyle suspected him of being the father who had deserted him, and that Kyle resented Billy's position as a favored Lewis son. Hating Kyle for stealing the company from under him, Billy developed a serious drinking and gambling problem, losing lots of money at poker to Warren Andrews at the Blue Orchid. When Warren demanded his money, Billy had no choice but to dip into Mindy's trust fund. Blaming Kyle for his problems, he even planned to shoot and kill him at a party in the Blue Orchid. Fortunately, Sally talked him out of it. That summer when her sister, Roxie, was missing, Reva appealed to her new friend for help...Kyle! To H.B.'s consternation, Reva was forming a bond with the Lewis family enemy. Later, Billy warned H.B. that Kyle was not only after Lewis Oil, he was out to steal Reva as well! When H.B. confronted Reva, she admitted that she loved Kyle, but H.B. vowed to fight for her. Meanwhile, in the hope that Kyle and Billy would end their feud, H.B. and Sally lied to Kyle that his suspicions were correct: H.B. was his father. As Kyle struggled with his ambivalence toward H.B., Reva sadly told him they must end their romance for H.B.'s sake. Kyle went back to old lover Maeve Stoddard on the rebound. Kyle and Reva eventually found their way back to one another and made love.

Realizing he shouldn't hold on to a woman who loved another, H.B. graciously gave Reva the divorce she wanted. About this time, the nefarious Largo organization wanted to take over Sampson Industries and kill Kyle. So Largo and his henchman (who was also Kyle's assistant) David Preston, decided to use Billy's hatred to their advantage. Hypnotizing him with Largo's ring symbol during poker games, David programmed Billy to kill Kyle when he would see the logo of the organization (two rings which merge into one another) that was ironically the same logo as Beth Raines and Jackson Freemont had created for Lujack's music video. The killing was to happen during Mindy's wedding to Kurt Corday and when Billy saw the logo during Lujack's music video, he aimed his gun at Kyle but H.B. yelled at him and David was killed instead! So Billy, with Ross Marler as his lawyer, was tried for David's murder and the attempted murder of Kyle. During the trial, Kyle, Kurt and Lujack destroyed Largo's organization and Beth and Jackson, who'd been kidnapped by Largo and knew of his schemes, testified on Billy's behalf. When Ross arranged for Billy to be hypnotized again, he was finally exonerated. But then it was discovered that Billy's shot had misfired when David's lover, Suzette Saxon, confessed to shooting and killing David.

It was then in 1986 that Reva learned H.B.'s darkest secret. After seeing Sally with Billy's baby picture, Reva found the birth certificate that indicated Sally was Billy's mother! Found out, H.B. and Sally were forced to reveal the truth to all-- H.B.'s deceased wife, Miss Martha, had agreed to raise Billy after Sally blew out of H.B.'s life. Neither H. B. nor Sally had the heart to reveal the truth. Now confronted, Sally told a shocked Kyle that his father was not H.B. but a prominent cleric named Cardinal Malone. Kyle and Billy finally resolved to be brothers in every sense, merging their enterprises into Sampson-Lewis Industries. Later, though Kyle would end up losing Reva to her true love-- Josh. The following year, Josh, who had returned to town, left Lewis Oil after an argument with H.B. yet the two soon reconciled their differences and Josh became president of Lewis Oil, something H.B. always wanted. Not long after, H.B. unexpectedly fell in love with the competition, the wealthy Alexandra Spaulding. When Sally suffered a fatal heart attack in the fall of that year, H.B. realized life was fleeting and asked Alex to marry him. By 1988 the pair planned to marry, while Alex convinced H.B. to merge Lewis Oil with Spaulding to overpower her brother, Alan, who knew that Josh was the father of Reva's newborn daughter. Though H.B. stood by Alex after she confessed that she too learned the truth about Marah's parentage, when he learned that Alex not only ousted Alan from the company, but also bankrupted him, he called the engagement off. H.B. then left town for Venezuela and would later reappear when Mindy and an amnesiac Will Jeffries visited Venezuela. H.B., unaware of Will's villainous nature, gave his blessing to Mindy's and Will's wedding plans.

H.B. spent the next few years supporting his family and giving them advice whenever he could, not only to his children but also to his grandchildren, including the son Billy never knew he had with Reva—--Dylan. Meanwhile, H.B. was happy to hear that Josh and Reva had reunited and threw them a big wedding at Cross Creek. Though disappointed that Billy had divorced Vanessa back in 1986, H.B. stayed close to Vanessa and Henry and was also heartbroken when it appeared as if Reva died in 1990. In 1993, H.B.'s life would be unsettled by the infamous Roger Thorpe. Hating Billy, Roger sought revenge on the Lewis family and hired Buzz Cooper to investigate the Lewises. From Buzz, Roger learned of H.B.'s stay in prison as a young man and had journalist Gilly Grant exposed him when H.B received a Lifetime Achievement award. An ashamed H.B. returned the award. Unfortunately, this only fueled Billy's hatred of Roger and again, he began drinking. In February 1994, H.B. was heartbroken when Billy confessed to shooting Roger and was sentenced to at least nine years in prison. Seeing his son off to prison, H.B. told Billy that he blamed himself for spoiling Billy when he was a child, however Billy maintained that the fault was all his. In 1996, Josh and a recently released Billy rushed to France when they learned that a visiting H.B. had taken ill there. The following year, in September, the Lewises received word that H.B. died. In his will, he left his beloved daughter-in-law, Reva, who it was learned had not died, a portion of Lewis Oil to make sure that no matter what, she'd always be provided for.

H.B. was a true friend to all, from the wealthy Chamberlains to the working class Shaynes. Fiercely loyal to his family, a Christmas tradition at the Lewis house included HB's reading of the First Christmas in Bethlehem. Though he called Oklahoma home, he had a soft spot for Springfield and when he died in September 1997 many of the town's most prominent citizens came to his funeral to pay their respects. At his funeral, his granddaughter, Marah, stated that the greatest lesson he ever taught her was to "ride the waves." In 2006, while on business in Cross Creek, Josh found blueprints which detailed his father's final dream--the building of a state of the art Veteran's Hospital in Tulsa. Josh immediately decided to honor his father by making that dream a reality.