Viki - 1980s

1980

Viki gives birth to her second son with Joe Riley, whom she names Joseph Francis Riley Jr., affectionately known as Joey. Although still grieving Joe's death, Viki finds happiness in caring for Joey and Kevin while continuing her responsibilities at The Banner.

Tina remains rebellious and frequently clashes with Viki. Meanwhile, Ted Clayton, the man Tina believes is her biological father, arrives in Llanview and becomes increasingly involved in their lives.

Ted secretly arranges Tina's kidnapping and subsequently presents himself as her rescuer, hoping to win Viki's gratitude and affection. He also sells forged artwork as original paintings, using deception to maintain his position in their lives.

Ted becomes increasingly obsessed with Viki. When his efforts to win her love fail, he drugs and manipulates her, leaving Viki deeply hurt and disillusioned when she discovers his betrayal.

Clint Buchanan, who has developed feelings for Viki, openly questions Ted's motives. He accuses Ted of exploiting Tina's ordeal to make himself appear indispensable to Viki.

Although Viki is not yet ready to pursue another relationship, she gradually begins recognizing Clint's genuine concern for her. Their growing attraction sets the stage for the complicated romance that develops the following year.

‍‍1981

Viki remains deeply hurt and disillusioned after discovering that Ted Clayton had drugged and manipulated her in an attempt to win her love. Ted's schemes ultimately unravel, and his death brings a disturbing chapter in Viki's life to a close.

Meanwhile, Clint Buchanan's feelings for Viki continue to grow. Although Viki is attracted to him, her painful experiences with Ted and her lingering grief over Joe's death make her reluctant to enter another romantic relationship.

Clint finds it increasingly difficult to work alongside Viki at The Banner while maintaining a strictly professional relationship. Frustrated by her unwillingness to acknowledge their mutual attraction, he resigns and joins the rival newspaper, The Chronicle.

Clint becomes romantically involved with Edwina Lewis, hoping to move forward with his life. However, his relationship with Edwina makes Viki realize that her feelings for Clint are deeper than she had admitted.

Their personal differences soon become a professional rivalry. A newspaper article originally obtained by Viki turns out to contain fabricated information. Viki had shown the material to Clint as a professional courtesy, but he took the story and published it in The Chronicle without independently verifying its accuracy.

Viki is furious that Clint has used information she shared in confidence. As the controversy grows, she files a lawsuit against him, bringing their rivalry into the courtroom.

The legal confrontation creates further tension between them, but it also makes their feelings impossible to ignore.

After the courtroom battle, Viki finally begins lowering her emotional defenses. Recognizing that Clint genuinely cares for her, she allows herself to follow her heart, opening the way for their romance to develop.

1982

Viki becomes involved in the investigation surrounding the switching of babies belonging to Jenny Vernon and Katrina Karr. As publisher of The Banner, she obtains confidential information about the case but refuses to reveal her source when questioned by authorities.

Determined to uphold her journalistic principles and protect the confidentiality of her source, Viki is held in contempt of court and sent to jail. Despite the personal consequences, she refuses to compromise her convictions.

Throughout the ordeal, Clint Buchanan stands by Viki. Their earlier professional rivalry has given way to a deep and genuine love, and while Viki is still incarcerated, Clint proposes marriage. Viki accepts, and the couple begins planning their future together.

Meanwhile, another battle is developing over Llanfair, the Lord family mansion. Under the terms of Victor Lord's will, Dorian was permitted to retain ownership of Llanfair following Victor's death, but the property would revert to Viki if Dorian remarried.

Dorian marries District Attorney Herb Callison, triggering the provision in Victor's will. However, she has no intention of surrendering the mansion and refuses to move out, despite Viki's rightful claim to the property.

When Dorian continues to resist, Clint takes matters into his own hands. In a memorable confrontation, he physically picks Dorian up and carries her out of Llanfair, finally ending her control of the Lord family home.

With Dorian evicted and Llanfair restored to Viki, she and Clint are married in the mansion. Their wedding marks a new beginning for Viki, who has endured years of personal tragedy and difficult relationships.

Viki begins married life with Clint and becomes part of the Buchanan family, while continuing her responsibilities at The Banner and raising Kevin and Joey.‍‍

‍‍1983

he Banner and The Chronicle merge, bringing changes to Llanview's newspaper business. Viki continues her responsibilities at The Banner while adjusting to married life with Clint.

Viki also plays an important role in bringing internationally known musician David Renaldi to Llanview as head conductor of the Llanview Symphony Orchestra. David accepts the position partly because he is attracted to Viki, although their relationship remains strictly professional. David's arrival creates additional complications because of his past relationship with Dorian and their daughter, Cassie.

Meanwhile, photographer Echo DiSavoy arrives in Llanview and obtains a position at The Banner. Clint is immediately struck by her resemblance to Giselle, a woman he loved years earlier, but he fails to recognize the connection.

Unknown to Clint and Viki, Echo and her brother, Giles Morgan, have come to Llanview seeking revenge. They believe Clint was responsible for the death of their mother, Giselle, after he abandoned her years before.

Echo deliberately sets out to seduce Clint and destroy his marriage. Despite his love for Viki, Clint becomes involved in a brief affair with Echo.

Determined to inflict the greatest possible damage, Echo makes certain that Viki learns of the affair. Viki is devastated by Clint's betrayal, and their marriage is thrown into turmoil.

Echo then carries out an elaborate scheme to frame Clint for murder. She lures him to a bridge, where they engage in a heated argument. Dorian witnesses the confrontation, and Echo deliberately jumps into the water, making it appear that Clint has pushed her to her death.

Dorian tells the police that she saw Clint push Echo from the bridge. With Echo presumed dead, Clint is arrested and charged with her murder.

Although deeply hurt by the affair, Viki refuses to believe that Clint is a murderer. Determined to save him from prison, she joins forces with Marco Dane to investigate Echo's disappearance.

Viki and Marco eventually discover that Echo is alive and that her supposed death was part of a carefully planned revenge scheme.

During Clint's trial, Echo finally confesses that she staged the incident to frame him. The truth also emerges about Giselle's death: Echo's father, Arthur Stanford, was actually responsible, not Clint.

With the charges dismissed, Clint is freed. Echo leaves Llanview, her plans for revenge having failed.

Viki ultimately forgives Clint for his infidelity, and the couple reconcile, determined to put the painful ordeal behind them and rebuild their marriage.

1984

One of Victor Lord's business holdings is the Lord-Manning factory, where crooked financial dealings lead to a dangerous confrontation involving Viki and her children. Mark Pemberton, who has embezzled $1.8 million from the company, goes into hiding at Viki's cabin while attempting to escape prosecution.

Unaware that Mark is there, Viki arrives at the cabin with her children and finds herself caught in a terrifying hostage situation. Mark is carrying a bomb and threatens to harm Viki and the boys unless she cooperates with his plan to flee the country.

To protect her children, Viki agrees to help Mark escape, but only if he allows her to leave Kevin and Joey safely at Llanfair. Although frightened, she remains remarkably resourceful, secretly leaving a trail of clues that she hopes will lead rescuers to her.

Clint Buchanan and Ed Hall follow Viki's clues, eventually tracing her movements to the airport. They arrive just in time to rescue her before Mark can complete his escape.

Following the resolution of the scandal, Harry O'Neill becomes president of Lord-Manning. His arrival in Llanview will prove significant in the following year, when Viki's alternate personality reemerges and Harry becomes involved in the unfolding mystery.

Meanwhile, Tina Clayton returns to Llanview after discovering that Ted Clayton was not her biological father. Determined to learn the truth about her parentage, she begins investigating her late mother, Irene Manning, who had been Viki's close college friend.

Tina repeatedly questions Viki about Irene's relationship with Victor Lord and the circumstances surrounding her own birth. Viki becomes increasingly uncomfortable with Tina's inquiries, insisting that she knows nothing that could explain the mystery.

At the same time, Viki becomes absorbed in preparations for The Banner's upcoming 50th-anniversary celebration. She plans an elaborate tribute honoring her father, whom she continues to regard as a remarkable newspaperman and devoted parent.

Her growing obsession with preserving Victor's reputation concerns Clint, particularly as Viki becomes increasingly defensive whenever Tina raises questions about the past.

The pressure begins taking an emotional toll on Viki, whose idealized memories of Victor conceal painful experiences she has long been unable to confront.

Tina's determination to uncover her true parentage and Viki's devotion to her father's memory set the stage for the dramatic revelations and psychological crisis that will unfold in 1985.

1985

Tina's investigation into her parentage leads her to Victor Lord's secret room, where she discovers a letter revealing that Victor, not Ted Clayton, was her biological father. Determined to establish her rightful place in the Lord family, Tina enlists Dorian's assistance. Dorian, always eager to uncover damaging information about Victor and challenge Viki, is more than willing to help.

When Tina confronts Viki with the letter, Viki is devastated and refuses to believe it. She insists that the document must be a forgery. Yet Tina's accusations begin stirring disturbing memories that Viki cannot explain, including images of herself standing outside Victor's bedroom and recollections involving her father and Irene Manning.

Clint becomes increasingly concerned about Viki's emotional state. Her unexplained disappearances and unusual behavior place additional strain on their marriage, particularly when she cannot account for where she has been.

Meanwhile, Mitch Laurence, Tina's former boyfriend from California, arrives in Llanview. Discovering that Tina may be an heiress to the Lord fortune, Mitch immediately recognizes an opportunity to enrich himself. He begins manipulating Tina and investigating Victor's past, hoping to gain control of the Lord estate.

The crisis reaches a turning point during The Banner's 50th-anniversary banquet, which Viki has organized as a tribute to her father's accomplishments.

Unknown to Viki, Mitch has placed copies of Victor's letter concerning Tina's parentage inside the official anniversary programs.

As Viki stands before the assembled guests praising Victor as a wonderful father and respected newspaperman, she senses that something is terribly wrong. Instead of listening to her tribute, members of the audience are reading the damaging information in their programs. Viki becomes increasingly upset and humiliated, struggling to understand the audience's reaction.

Afterward, Tina approaches Viki and attempts to explain the revelations. Overwhelmed by the apparent attack on her father's reputation, Viki angrily slaps her half-sister and runs out.

In the following scene, Viki's alternate personality emerges, wearing unfamiliar clothes and a distinctive long red wig. She visits the Backstreet Bar and introduces herself as Nicole Smith.

Nicole is markedly different in appearance and manner from the more familiar, brash Niki Smith. She displays a gentler, more affectionate personality and begins asking about people she knew approximately fifteen years earlier, particularly Harry O'Neill.

Harry, now president of Lord-Manning, had once fallen in love with Nicole without realizing that she was actually Victoria Lord. Their renewed acquaintance becomes another complication in Viki's increasingly troubled life.

Nicole eventually returns to Llanfair, where Viki resumes control without remembering what has happened. As Tina continues pressing Viki about their relationship, further episodes occur, and Viki begins spending time with Harry without any conscious knowledge of her actions.

Dorian is also interested in Harry, creating an unexpected romantic rivalry involving Viki's alternate personality.

Viki's disappearances become so frequent that Clint begins wondering whether she is having an affair. Viki, unaware of Nicole's activities, is indignant at the suggestion.

Mitch, meanwhile, discovers another letter among Victor's papers. This document stipulates that if Niki Smith returns, control of the Lord estate will pass to Tina.

Recognizing that Viki's psychological condition could make him wealthy, Mitch becomes determined to trigger her alternate personality, marry Tina, and gain access to the Lord fortune.

He begins engineering incidents designed to undermine Viki's confidence and emotional stability, hoping to force her into a public breakdown.

During one episode, while Clint and the boys are in Arizona, Niki agrees to accompany Harry out of town. A storm develops as they travel toward the Seaside Inn, and their car runs into a ditch.

While Harry goes for help, the frightened Niki disappears and Viki regains control. Confused, soaking wet, and dressed in unfamiliar clothes, Viki returns to Llanfair in the middle of the night.

Realizing that she has experienced another blackout, Viki seeks help from Jenny. As she describes what happened, she recognizes the symptoms of her earlier illness and becomes devastated by the possibility that Niki has returned.

Viki asks Jenny to help her obtain treatment and promises to keep the frightening developments confidential.

Mitch continues sending notes supposedly written by Niki, hoping to expose Viki's condition. Although he repeatedly attempts to force Niki to emerge in public, his schemes initially fail.

Tina eventually shows Dorian Victor's secret room. Mitch and Tina then manipulate Dorian into bringing Viki there, unaware of the severity of Viki's emotional condition.

Confronted with the secret room and the evidence of Victor's relationship with Irene, Viki becomes overwhelmed and changes into Niki in front of Dorian.

For once, Dorian is genuinely sympathetic. When Viki regains control, Dorian offers to help her recover.

Clint and Jenny discover the women returning from the secret room. Despite Viki's objections, Dorian insists on explaining what she witnessed.

The additional strain nearly causes another transformation, but Jenny intervenes and convinces Viki to seek professional help from psychiatrist Dr. Marcus Polk.

Outraged that Tina and Mitch have deliberately exploited Viki's vulnerability, Dorian turns against them and unexpectedly becomes one of Viki's defenders.

Rather than send Viki to a sanitarium, the family arranges for Dr. Polk to treat her at Llanfair.

During three emotionally exhausting sessions, Viki begins recovering painful memories concerning Victor and Irene. She remembers discovering her father in bed with Irene, the woman she regarded as her best friend.

The revelations finally convince Viki that Tina is indeed Victor's daughter and her half-sister. Viki offers Tina a financial settlement, hoping to resolve the dispute.

But Mitch has no intention of abandoning his plans. Having invested so much effort in destabilizing Viki, he becomes increasingly determined to destroy her psychological defenses and seize the Lord fortune.

He sends Viki another note from Niki, referring to her relationship with Harry. The possibility that she has been involved with another man terrifies Viki.

Unable to locate Clint or Jenny, Viki telephones Harry and asks him to come to Llanfair. Before he arrives, however, she changes into Niki and leaves for the Backstreet Bar.

Harry discovers the note and realizes that someone is deliberately manipulating Viki.

Meanwhile, Mitch lures Niki to her rented room, drugs her, and forces her to telephone Clint for help.

Mitch intends to murder Clint, frame Viki or Niki for the crime, and then marry Tina to obtain the Lord fortune.

Tina arrives unexpectedly and attempts to stop the scheme. During the ensuing struggle, Mitch regains control of the gun.

When someone suddenly bursts through the door, Mitch assumes it is Clint and fires, killing Harry O'Neill.

Mitch flees, leaving Niki distraught beside Harry's body and Tina holding the gun.

Tina is arrested and charged with Harry's murder. With her fingerprints on the weapon and no independent witness to establish what happened, she faces the possibility of conviction.

Tina insists that Mitch was responsible and pleads with Viki to allow Niki to emerge and testify.

Although hypnosis initially fails to bring Niki forward, Tina's attorney, Pete O'Neill, relentlessly questions Viki during the trial.

The emotional pressure finally causes Niki to emerge on the witness stand.

Grieving Harry's death, Niki reveals what happened and identifies Mitch as the killer, clearing Tina of the murder charge.

However, the victory comes at a terrible cost: Niki refuses to relinquish control, and Viki does not return.

Clint desperately tries to reach his wife. After numerous unsuccessful attempts, he reluctantly agrees to send Niki to Dr. Polk's sanitarium.

Several weeks later, with Niki still in control, Clint decides that returning her to the familiar surroundings of Llanfair might help Viki emerge.

Niki remains determined to enjoy her freedom and resists every attempt to revive Viki.

Following an argument with Clint, Niki is involved in an automobile accident. After regaining consciousness, she attempts to escape but is discovered by Clint.

Fearful of being returned to the sanitarium, Niki devises an elaborate scheme: she will pretend that Viki has finally returned.

To make the deception convincing, she gathers Viki's old diaries and videotapes and retreats to the family cabin, where she studies Viki's behavior, mannerisms, and personal history.

Niki proves to be an accomplished actress. She returns to Llanfair and successfully impersonates Viki, deceiving nearly everyone around her.

Only Tina recognizes the truth. However, Tina and Niki enter into an uneasy alliance, agreeing to remain silent for their own separate reasons.

Niki's impersonation creates enormous difficulties in the Buchanan household.

Although Clint is overjoyed to believe that Viki has returned, Niki refuses to share his bed. Feeling rejected and confused, Clint begins drinking heavily.

Bo eventually persuades Clint to stop drinking for the children's sake.

While Clint attends a press conference in New York, Tina and Niki spend an evening on the town and return home intoxicated.

Clint is furious when he discovers their condition. To calm him, Niki becomes affectionate and allows him to carry her upstairs.

The following morning, Niki awakens with a terrible hangover and discovers Clint lying beside her, undressed.

Unable to remember what happened, she anxiously asks whether they had been intimate. Clint refuses to answer, leaving her increasingly distressed.

Although Niki continues resisting Clint's advances, she unexpectedly begins developing genuine feelings for him.

Meanwhile, Mitch, now in jail, organizes another plot against Viki. He arranges for her to be kidnapped during a New York press awards dinner and demands a ransom of one million dollars.

Clint insists that Viki accompany him to the ceremony. During the trip, Niki begins falling in love with Clint, but their growing closeness does not prevent another crisis.

At the awards dinner, Niki shocks Clint by announcing that she intends to sell The Banner to the highest bidder.

Clint immediately returns to Llanview with Tina, determined to prevent the sale. Asa ultimately protects the newspaper by purchasing it himself.

When Niki returns home and finds Tina in bed with an intoxicated Clint, the shock triggers Viki's reemergence.

Viki soon notices an appointment with Dr. Polk scheduled three months in the future. Realizing that Niki may have been in control for an extended period, she attempts to contact her psychiatrist.

Before she can obtain help, however, Mitch's accomplice, Stick, chloroforms and kidnaps her.

When Viki awakens, Niki is once again in control.

After learning about the kidnapping, Niki proposes joining forces with Stick, increasing the ransom to two million dollars and dividing the money between them.

Stick, however, has his own plans and intends to murder Niki after collecting the ransom.

The pair eventually elude the police and retreat to a cabin. Despite Niki's scheming, she manages to leave enough clues for Clint to locate her.

Clint arrives and rescues her after being shot, knocked unconscious, and nearly strangled during the confrontation.

By this time, Viki is emerging more frequently, making Niki increasingly fearful that she will lose control.

Determined to protect herself, Niki decides that she must divorce Clint.

She succeeds in obtaining a quick divorce just as Clint begins realizing that the woman he has been living with is not Viki.

Clint confronts Niki and pleads with her to admit the truth. Finally, he shames her into confessing that she has been impersonating Viki.

For the sake of the family, Clint agrees to keep her identity secret while he searches for a way to bring Viki back.

Tina sees the divorce as an opportunity to win Clint for herself. She falsely claims to be pregnant with his child, supposedly conceived during the drunken evening when he awoke beside her.

Clint rejects Tina's scheme, insisting that he loves only Viki.

Determined to save his wife, Clint launches an extraordinary campaign to court Niki, hoping that her growing affection for him will somehow help Viki regain control.

His efforts begin producing results. Niki becomes increasingly vulnerable to Clint's attention, and Viki occasionally emerges.

However, Clint's repeated attempts to trick Niki also provoke her anger, and she fights fiercely to maintain control.

As the year ends, Clint continues his struggle to restore Viki, refusing to abandon the woman he loves despite Niki's determination to remain in charge

1986

Clint continues his determined efforts to bring Viki back from beneath Niki Smith's personality. Although Niki initially resists his romantic advances, she gradually develops genuine feelings for him, and Viki occasionally begins to emerge.

One evening, Clint arranges a romantic dinner at Llanfair. As Niki responds to his affection, Viki briefly regains control, but an unexpected telephone call interrupts the moment, allowing Niki to reemerge.

The call requires Clint to leave. Frightened by the growing strength of Viki's personality, Niki decides that she must escape before she loses control permanently.

Before leaving, Niki experiences an extraordinary confrontation with her mirror image, Viki, who warns that Niki cannot escape her simply by running away.

When Clint discovers that Niki has disappeared, he desperately searches for her. Tina eventually admits that Niki may have gone to the inn where she and Harry O'Neill had been heading during the previous year's storm.

Clint also learns from Dorian that Tina's claim of being pregnant with his child was a lie.

Clint locates Niki at the inn and pleads with her to return home. When she refuses, he devises a desperate plan to restore Viki.

Pretending that he has given up on Viki and now wants Tina, Clint persuades Tina to meet him at the inn. He then arranges for Niki to arrive at precisely the moment when he appears to be making passionate love to her half-sister.

Clint hopes that the shock of seeing him with Tina will trigger Viki's return, just as the discovery of Victor Lord with Irene Manning had originally contributed to her psychological breakdown.

The plan succeeds. Viki emerges, and the struggle between her and Niki finally subsides.

Viki and Clint return to Llanview, overjoyed that their ordeal appears to be over. However, friends and family are initially skeptical, having been deceived by Niki's impersonation for so long.

To establish that Viki has genuinely recovered, Clint accompanies her to Mountainview Sanitarium, where psychiatrist Dr. Marcus Polk examines her and confirms that Viki is once again in control.

The couple leaves for a vacation with the children, hoping to rebuild their lives.

Shortly afterward, Dr. Polk is murdered by Tracy James, a disturbed woman connected to the sanitarium. Clint becomes the prime suspect and is eventually convicted of the crime.

Determined to prove her husband's innocence, Viki undertakes a dangerous investigation. She pretends to be Niki Smith and has herself committed to Mountainview, hoping to uncover evidence against the real murderer.

Her deception places her in serious danger when Tracy discovers what she is doing and attempts to kill her.

Viki survives the confrontation, exposes Tracy as Dr. Polk's murderer, and succeeds in clearing Clint.

Meanwhile, Tina has taken control of Llanfair and the Lord estate under the provision in Victor's letter stipulating that she would inherit the family fortune if Niki Smith returned.

Viki challenges Tina's claim, arranges for the Lord assets to be frozen, and eventually regains control of the estate.

With these ordeals finally behind them, Viki and Clint reconcile and decide to remarry.

Shortly before the ceremony, Viki discovers that she is pregnant, bringing unexpected happiness to the couple. Their remarriage marks a new beginning after the extraordinary events involving Niki.

However, their peace is short-lived when David Renaldi becomes involved in a dangerous situation in Vienna.

Viki and Clint travel to Austria to help David and Jenny. Following a life-threatening adventure, they return to the United States and spend time at the Buchanan ranch in Arizona.

While they are away, Tina intercepts a letter addressed to Clint from El Paso, Texas.

Following the letter's trail, Tina travels to Texas and meets Cord Roberts, a young man who turns out to be Clint's son.

Cord subsequently comes to Llanview, followed by his mother, Maria Roberts, Clint's former childhood sweetheart.

Maria remains deeply attached to Clint and becomes determined to destroy his marriage to Viki.

Knowing that Viki has never fully recovered from the loss of Joe Riley, Maria brings Tom Dennison to Llanview.

Tom is Joe's identical twin brother, whose existence comes as a tremendous shock to Viki.

When Viki returns from Arizona and meets Tom, she is stunned by his resemblance to her late husband. She and Tom begin investigating their family history to establish that he really is Joe's twin.

Meanwhile, Mitch Laurence continues creating problems for Viki.

Following his imprisonment for Harry O'Neill's murder, Mitch presents himself as a religious convert and establishes a following centered on the Waterside Inn.

Among his followers are Allison Perkins, Viki's niece Mari Lynn Dennison, and Harry O'Neill's daughter Joy.

Mitch uses the commune to manipulate vulnerable young women, employing drugs and psychological control to maintain his influence.

Still determined to avenge his earlier defeats, Mitch targets Viki once again.

During a visit to the commune, pregnant Viki is drugged by Allison. On her way home, Viki is involved in an accident that causes her to go into premature labor.

Mitch's activities also threaten Dorian's daughter Cassie. When he attempts to assault Cassie, Dorian intervenes and strikes him, apparently killing him.

In September, Viki gives birth to a daughter, Jessica Buchanan.

The arrival of Jessica should bring happiness to the family, but Mitch's influence continues even after his apparent death.

Allison Perkins, acting under a post-hypnotic suggestion implanted by Mitch, carries out his plan to kidnap the baby.

To make it appear that Niki Smith has returned, Allison disguises herself in a red wig and flashy clothing resembling Niki's appearance.

She enters Llanfair while Viki is asleep and abducts Jessica.

Allison takes the baby to New Jersey, leaving her in the care of her mother, Ruth Perkins, who is unaware of the child's true identity.

Jessica's disappearance devastates Viki and Clint.

Viki insists that Niki Smith has not returned and that she could never have kidnapped her own daughter. Nevertheless, the circumstances create doubts in Clint's mind.

Maria Roberts discovers Allison's involvement and realizes that the kidnapping offers an opportunity to separate Viki and Clint permanently.

Rather than immediately reveal the truth, Maria manipulates the evidence to make Clint believe that Viki, acting as Niki, may have taken Jessica herself.

During the ordeal, Maria inadvertently reveals to Viki that Cord is Clint's son.

Although deeply concerned about Jessica, Viki believes that Clint deserves to know the truth about Cord and decides to tell him.

Clint's growing suspicions about Niki deeply wound Viki, who feels betrayed by her husband's inability to trust her after everything they have endured.

Their marriage deteriorates, and the couple separates.

Once Maria believes that she has successfully destroyed their relationship, she persuades Allison to return Jessica.

The baby is recovered safely, but the damage to Viki and Clint's marriage has already been done.

Before Allison can expose Maria's involvement, she is struck by a car and falls into a coma.

The situation becomes even more complicated because of Viki's continuing emotional difficulties involving Tom Dennison.

Clint and Tom eventually engage in a violent confrontation that Viki witnesses.

The stress overwhelms Viki, and she suffers a profound memory loss covering approximately eight years of her life.

She no longer remembers her marriage to Clint or the years they have spent together.

Instead, Viki believes that Tom Dennison is Joe Riley, her late husband.

As the year ends, Viki's memory loss creates another devastating crisis for the Buchanan family, leading directly into the extraordinary events of 1987.

1987

Viki continues suffering from the devastating memory loss that began after she witnessed Clint and Tom Dennison fighting. Unable to remember the previous eight years of her life, she believes that Tom is actually Joe Riley, her late husband.

Tom becomes increasingly concerned when Viki begins experiencing recurring, severe headaches. He persuades her to undergo medical examinations, which reveal that she has a life-threatening brain aneurysm. Doctors determine that the aneurysm is responsible for both her headaches and her recent memory loss, and immediate surgery is necessary.

During the operation, Viki has an extraordinary out-of-body experience. She finds herself accompanied by a mysterious guardian angel named Virgil, who guides her through Heaven and helps her confront the possibility that she may never return to her earthly life.

Viki is reunited with many people from her past, including her parents, Victor and Eugenia Lord; her sister Meredith; her half-brother Tony; her beloved late husband, Joe Riley; Irene Manning; Samantha Vernon; Harry O'Neill; and Vinnie Wolek.

Her journey also brings her face-to-face with some of the more painful and frightening figures from her life, including Niki Smith, her alternate personality; Dr. Marcus Polk, her former psychiatrist; and Tracy James and Stick, who had threatened her life.

The reunions are deeply emotional, especially Viki's encounter with Joe, whom she has never stopped loving. Yet Virgil makes her understand that remaining in Heaven would mean abandoning Clint, Kevin, Joey, Jessica, and the many people who still need her.

Virgil shows Viki what life would be like for her family without her. Faced with the choice of remaining with those she has lost or returning to the people she loves, Viki chooses to live.

She awakens following surgery, and her memory of Clint returns. The couple is reunited, bringing an end to the confusion caused by her amnesia.

However, the Buchanans soon face another crisis involving Maria Roberts, who remains determined to have Clint for herself.

Maria decides to poison Viki, hoping that Viki's death will leave Clint free to return to her. Tina discovers the scheme and intervenes to prevent Maria from carrying it out.

During the struggle between Tina and Maria, Maria is accidentally poisoned instead and dies.

Tina is arrested and sent to prison for Maria's murder, despite her insistence that she was trying to save Viki.

Determined to help her half-sister, Viki disguises herself as a prison nurse and enters Statesville Prison to investigate Tina's circumstances and check on her safety.

While inside, Viki encounters Jamie Sanders, a dangerous inmate who recognizes her and attempts to burn her alive. Viki survives the terrifying confrontation.

Jamie subsequently escapes from prison with an accomplice, while Cord Roberts and Max Holden work to free Tina.

The danger continues when Jamie attempts to take Tina hostage. Clint intervenes to protect her, but Jamie shoots him in the head.

Clint survives the shooting, but the injury leaves him blind.

Viki is devastated by what has happened to her husband. Determined to help Clint adjust to his loss of sight and recover away from Llanview's continuing turmoil, she arranges for the family to move temporarily to the Buchanan ranch in Arizona.

There, Viki devotes herself to supporting Clint as he struggles with his blindness, unaware that another extraordinary adventure awaits them in the coming year.

1988

While staying at the Buchanan ranch in Arizona, Clint continues struggling to adjust to his blindness following the shooting that nearly claimed his life. Determined to regain his independence, he goes horseback riding in the desert.

During the ride, Clint is thrown from his horse and strikes his head against a rock. When he regains consciousness, he is astonished to discover that his eyesight has returned. Even more extraordinary, he finds himself in Buchanan City, Arizona, in the year 1888, exactly one hundred years in the past.

There, Clint encounters people who bear remarkable resemblances to members of his own family, including Buck Buchanan, who resembles Asa, and Cody Vasquez, who resembles Cord.

He also meets Virginia Lord, known as Ginny Fletcher, a young woman who looks exactly like Viki and is one of her ancestors.

Ginny has close ties to the McGillis family, including Buddy McGillis, whose family is involved in a longstanding feud with the Buchanans. Clint soon finds himself caught in the conflict between the two families.

Guided by a mysterious Native American named Clear Eyes, Clint learns that he must help reconcile the McGillis and Buchanan families and reunite Ginny with Randolph Lord, the man she once loved.

Unless Ginny and Randolph marry, the course of the Lord family history may change, and Viki herself may never exist.

Clint's adventures in Buchanan City become increasingly dangerous. Ginny and Blaize are sold to a slave trader, forcing Clint to risk his life to rescue Ginny.

Blaize escapes and is mysteriously transported into 1988, where she encounters Viki and provides an extraordinary clue that Clint may still be alive somewhere in the past.

Meanwhile, Clint gradually becomes convinced that he will never return to his own time. As the days pass, he and Ginny grow close. Believing that Viki is lost to him forever, Clint eventually agrees to marry Ginny.

Back in 1988, Clint's disappearance has devastated his family. Searchers discover his horse and personal belongings in the desert, leading everyone to fear that he has died.

Viki refuses to accept that Clint is dead. Determined to find him, she follows the mysterious clues surrounding his disappearance and ventures into the Arizona desert.

There, she encounters Clear Eyes, who helps her travel back through time to Buchanan City in 1888.

Viki arrives just as Clint is preparing to marry Ginny and interrupts the wedding. She and Clint are joyfully reunited, but their happiness is complicated by the realization that their presence in the past could alter history.

Together, Viki and Clint work to resolve the feud between the Buchanan and McGillis families. They also help Ginny and Randolph recognize their love for one another, ensuring that the Lord family history will unfold as it should.

After bidding farewell to their friends in Buchanan City, Viki and Clint return to Clear Eyes, who helps them find their way back to 1988.

Clint's eyesight remains restored, but Viki and Clint are left wondering whether their extraordinary journey through time truly happened or was only a dream.

Back in Llanview, Viki receives an invitation to her twenty-fifth high school reunion. Her longtime friend Dr. Larry Wolek strongly discourages her from attending, but his objections only increase her curiosity.

Viki attends the reunion and becomes disturbed when former classmates seem unable to remember her graduating with them.

Determined to discover why, she investigates her school records and begins experiencing troubling flashes of memory involving a young man and a baby.

Through hypnosis, Viki gradually discovers that she left school during her senior year and gave birth to a child, an event she has absolutely no conscious memory of.

Even more shocking is the revelation that Victor Lord arranged for a hypnotist to erase her memories of the pregnancy and childbirth.

Viki is devastated to learn that her father deliberately concealed such an important part of her life.

She becomes determined to find the child she never knew she had and to discover the identity of the baby's father.

Meanwhile, Michael Grande arrives in Llanview searching for Eterna, a mysterious underground city believed to have been destroyed years earlier.

Michael learns that Viki's missing memories may contain information about Eterna's location. Believing that her alternate personality, Niki Smith, may know the secret, he attempts to manipulate Viki into becoming Niki again.

Michael employs Leo Cromwell, who approaches Viki claiming that he had once been romantically involved with Niki Smith.

Leo insists that he is the father of Viki's missing child and introduces his daughter, Christine Cromwell, as the baby Viki gave birth to years earlier.

Desperate to recover the missing years of her life and eager to believe she has finally found her daughter, Viki initially accepts Leo's story.

However, the mystery surrounding her forgotten past is far from resolved. Michael's search for Eterna and the unanswered questions about Viki's pregnancy will lead to even more astonishing revelations in 1989.

1989

Viki continues investigating the missing period of her life that she uncovered during her high school reunion. She is determined to learn the truth about the daughter she gave birth to as a teenager and the extraordinary lengths her father, Victor Lord, went to in order to conceal the pregnancy.

Meanwhile, Michael Grande continues his search for Eterna, a mysterious underground city built years earlier. Believing that Viki possesses vital information about its location, Michael attempts to recover the memories that Victor had suppressed through hypnosis.

Viki's investigation becomes increasingly complicated when Leo Cromwell claims to be the father of her missing child and introduces Christine Cromwell as her daughter.

However, Leo's account proves to be a deception, and Viki eventually discovers that her past is connected to Roger Gordon, a man she knew when she was a teenager.

Years earlier, Viki and Roger had fallen in love and secretly married. Victor strongly disapproved of their relationship and intervened to separate them.

Viki had given birth to Roger's daughter, Megan, but Victor arranged for the memories of her marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth to be erased through hypnosis.

Roger subsequently raised Megan with his wife, Carrie Gordon, and Megan grew up unaware that Viki was her biological mother.

The revelations are devastating for Viki, who realizes that Victor's interference robbed her of the opportunity to raise her firstborn child.

As her memories begin returning, Viki learns more about her connection to Eterna and the circumstances surrounding the explosion that destroyed the underground city.

The traumatic events of that period had contributed to the emergence of Niki Smith, whose memories held information that Viki herself could not recall.

Viki becomes trapped in Eterna during the dangerous effort to uncover its secrets. The underground city and its history bring together several people whose lives were affected by Victor Lord's actions.

When Viki finally discovers the truth about Megan, she faces the difficult task of establishing a relationship with the daughter she never knew.

Megan, who has grown up believing that Carrie was her mother, struggles with the revelation. Viki is determined not to pressure her and hopes that, with time, they can build a relationship.

The return of Roger Gordon creates problems in Viki's marriage to Clint. Roger and Viki share a complicated history, and Clint becomes increasingly jealous of their renewed involvement, even though much of their contact concerns Megan.

During this turbulent period, Viki is shot by Austin Buchanan, adding another frightening ordeal to an already difficult year.

Clint eventually leaves Llanview for the Buchanan ranch in Arizona as tensions between him and Viki continue to mount.

Further complications arise when a marriage certificate documenting Viki's teenage marriage to Roger is discovered.

Because Victor had arranged for their separation and the annulment of the marriage, Viki must confront still more evidence of how completely her father controlled her life.

The discovery intensifies Clint's insecurity about Roger's place in Viki's life.

A misunderstanding involving an overnight business trip further strains the Buchanan marriage. Clint suspects that Viki and Roger have resumed their romantic relationship, although Viki insists that her feelings for Roger belong to the past.

Clint and Roger eventually become involved in a heated confrontation, and Clint withdraws to Buchanan City, leaving Viki uncertain about the future of their marriage.

Meanwhile, Viki and Roger become involved in an investigation of a baby-selling operation.

To expose the people responsible, they pose as a couple seeking to obtain a baby illegally. Their investigation leads them to a warehouse where the operation is being conducted.

The situation turns dangerous when an explosion traps Viki and Roger inside.

Despite the bitterness and misunderstandings between them, Clint rushes to the scene and risks his life to rescue Viki.

The ordeal reminds Clint and Viki of the strength of their love and the many difficulties they have overcome together.

They reconcile, determined to put the misunderstandings surrounding Roger behind them and rebuild their marriage.

As the year ends, Viki continues adjusting to the discovery of Megan and the painful truths about Victor Lord's manipulation of her past. Although she has finally recovered much of the history that was taken from her, she must now find a way to build a future with both her newly discovered daughter and the family she loves.