As a teenager, Yolanda Hamilton was a groupie known as "Candy Cane" who followed rock bands. After she got pregnant, she led a rough life as an unwed mother, drug addict, and prostitute raising her son Devon. After Yolanda overdosed, six year old Devon went to live with Yolanda's mother. It seemed that his grandmother was the only person who ever cared about Devon. Devon baked cookies with her and they celebrated birthdays with picnics at the zoo watching the seals.

Years later, Yolanda came home pregnant from one of her many disappearances and Tyra, who was only 15 and living with her father (Devon's grandfather), ended up raising Yolanda's baby, Ana. Yolanda ended up alone and living on the streets, and Devon grew up believing that Ana was Tyra's child, and that Tyra was Yolanda's sister and his aunt.

Lily Winters spent the summer of 2004 as a volunteer working on Victor Newman's Community Service project to turn a vacant factory into a Rec Center for the tough neighborhood it was in. Lily met troubled teen Devon, who was belligerent and just hung around watching and resenting the rich kids who were helping the neighborhood kids fix up the new Market Street Recreation Center. Lily's attempts to befriend him were rebuffed at every turn as Devon did not trust anyone - especially an obviously rich kid. To get her off his back, Devon made up answers to her questions, telling her that he went to a school in the rich part of town and was part of a big happy family. Later when Lily realized that he was lying, Devon told her that he had been shuttled from one group home to another ever since he was taken from his crack head mother, and that his father was dead. (Both were not entirely true.) Devon admitted that he was actually living in a foster home, but that he was about to be kicked out for his bad behavior. Just as the bubbly and sweet Lily was finally getting through to Devon, and he started helping out and treating everyone better, Devon was told by his social worker, Lorena Davis, that there was no group home available so he'd have to be sent to a Level 12 facility which sounded more like jail.

Lily's mother Drucilla got to know the boy and saw herself at that age, remembering how she had gone down the wrong road until Nathan Hastings had rescued her and taught her to read. Wanting to pay it forward by helping Devon in the same way, Dru convinced her husband Neil and Ms. Davis to allow them to be his temporary foster parents. Devon blossomed once he knew that someone cared, and he and Lily became very close. During this time, Devon told Lily he'd seen his father only once hanging out in front of a convenience store. Devon became part of the Winters family, learning table manners, and getting caught up on his education by reading books.

Devon admitted to his friend Sierra that although he hadn't seen her in several years, he might know where his mother could be found, but was afraid of the probable rejection if he did. Devon finally visited the park where his homeless mother Yolanda was living. Devon was disturbed to see how raggedy and thin she was, and he told her how well he was doing in school and that he was living with a rich family now. Devon tried to give Yolanda some cash, but she admitted that she was still a crack head and would only spend it on her habit. Yolanda encouraged Devon to forget her and his old life and take advantage of what the Winters had to offer him. Devon left the cash on the bench beside Yolanda, and said goodbye. But he returned several times to see his mother, and once witnessed her being dragged into the police station.

Alone with Neil and Dru after Lily was sent away to boarding school, Devon tried to talk Yolanda into going into a free state rehab facility. Yolanda refused and claimed that she was off the drugs. So Devon took her home to the Winters', let her clean up, and Yolanda left after stealing Neil's expensive watch. She used the watch to buy enough drugs to overdose, and was found unconscious in the park by Devon. Yolanda recovered and went into rehab. Afterward she lived with the Winters family getting her act together, got a nice job in the Jabot mailroom, but blew it all by coming on to Neil. Neil shot her down, Devon walked in on them, so Yolanda explained what had happened to Devon. Devon turned down Yolanda's offer to leave with her, and she packed and left for her sister's in Seattle.

The Winters were having marital problems when Devon went deaf after surviving meningitis. Neil and Dru reconciled, and the family united to support Devon by learning sign language and having their home equipped for the deaf. Devon was coping well considering that he was a music major in college, but he began looking into having a cochlear implant. His cochlear implant surgery was successful, and he was able to hear again. Neil and Dru took this opportunity to legally adopt Devon once they heard that his mother was back on drugs. Within a year, Dru fell off a cliff, her body was never found, and she was declared dead.

During a surprise twenty-first birthday party for Lily, Devon's Aunt Tyra and precocious and talented 12-year-old Ana arrived from Seattle. Ana had a beautiful singing voice, and after Ana sang with Devon at the annual charity gala it prompted Katherine Chancellor to offer Ana the annual scholarship for gifted students to a music school in New Hampshire. Tyra was reluctant to accept because Ana was not really her daughter, and Tyra was afraid that her deception all these years would be exposed. Neil was supportive, and Katherine paved the way for Ana to get into the school regardless. Devon was still unaware that he had a sister, so Tyra explained to Devon how she had ended up raising Yolanda's baby who was Ana. Devon and Ana got along wonderfully as they were both interested in music, writing and singing together. After a brief notion to quit college and launch a singing career, with everyone talking him out of it, Devon changed his major back to music. Tyra left with Ana for the music school in New Hampshire, Neil helped her get legal custody of Ana, and they ended up back in Seattle.

In 2011, Katherine Chancellor had hired Paul Williams to track down the child of her son Tucker McCall, whose mother had gotten pregnant as a teenage groupie, then had disappeared. The girl being one of many groupies that Tucker had slept with, had only sent him an anonymous letter telling him that he had a son whom he would never know. Paul was led by an old photo to another groupie, Amy Koslow, who told him about the groupie known as "Candy Cane," who had a big crush on Tucker, and that when she had disappeared, she was rumored to have been pregnant. This clue led Paul to discover that "Candy Cane" was Yolanda Hamilton, and that Devon Hamilton Winters was Tucker's son. After reporting the news to Katherine, Paul was told not to tell anyone since Tucker obviously didn't care enough to track him down on his own. But Tucker discovered the truth after learning that Katherine had added Devon to her will. Tucker told Devon, who was not pleased because he had recently been fired as Tucker's record producer.

Phyllis broke the story of Devon's paternity in Restless Style, Yolanda saw the webcast, and asked her boss at a Milwaukee diner for time off to see her son. Tucker held a news conference and said that he was happy to welcome Devon, a fine, bright, gifted young man to his family, and that he was looking forward to a relationship with his son.

Yolanda showed up at Devon's, clean and sober, telling him that she finally had her life together, and that she had changed her name to Harmony when she changed her life. Harmony explained that back in the late eighties, she had been jealous that Tucker had taken up with another groupie, and after she gave birth she had let Tucker know that he was a father with an unsigned note. Later after Devon had left, Tucker arrived and was confronted with Harmony. She told Tucker how Rubin, his road manager, had tried to give her cash to have her pregnancy "taken care of". Tucker swore he had not known, and that she should have come to him. Later Tucker apologized to Devon, admitting that he had not tried hard enough to find him, and how guilty he felt for all Devon had gone through when Tucker had the means to change it. Tucker tried to pay off Harmony to leave town, but she refused, was determined to stay and make things up to Devon, and find a way to restore Devon's trust. Katherine ran into Harmony and asked her to stay at her estate while she was in town. Harmony told Devon that she was grateful for the Winters family giving him a secure and loving home, but she respected his wishes to leave and gave Devon her contact information in Milwaukee, assuring him that she would always be there for him if he needed her.

Unfortunately, when Harmony returned to Milwaukee, she found that she had lost her job. She returned to Genoa City, and Neil caught her about to crash the wedding of Tucker and Ashley. Neil called her selfish and took her away. Later after the wedding, Devon ran into Neil and Harmony arguing at Crimson Lights. Katherine asked Harmony to stay on at the Chancellor estate. Harmony began going to AA, and was befriended by Nikki Newman. Devon showed up at the estate to return the investment money that Kay had given him for his recording company. He told Harmony that she looked and sounded sincere, but to not be taken in by "people" who were just using her to get what they wanted. But as time went by, and with Katherine's help, Harmony stayed sober, and she and Devon began establishing a guarded relationship. As a former groupie herself, Harmony took an interest in his recording business, and got a job in the same building as a receptionist at Restless Style.

As Christmas neared, Harmony volunteered to be in charge of the Children's Christmas pageant at the church. Katherine arranged for Ana, who was appearing in a concert nearby in Chicago, to come to Genoa City to sing "Oh Holy Night" at the pageant, as a surprise for Devon and Harmony. Harmony was shocked to see her daughter with whom she'd had no contact since Ana was a small child. Ana handled it well, keeping it light was obviously receptive to knowing Harmony. Ana left with Devon, and Harmony ran out of the room overwhelmed with Katherine following. Harmony was grateful for the gift, and told Kay how hard it must be for Ana and Devon to see all those happy families there, knowing they had been cheated of that by her. Kay told Harmony not to look back, but to do what she could to change things for the future. Ana and Devon discussed their circumstances later at Crimson Lights and Ana had similar advice for themselves.

Harmony convinced Devon to thank Katherine for the visit from Ana, and then convinced Tucker to work on reconciling with Katherine, if he ever hoped to have Devon do the same with him. Running into Neil, he praised Harmony for the turnaround she was making in her life, and after Tucker came over to wish Katherine a happy new year, she thanked Harmony for being there for her too.

Days later, Tucker showed up at the studio to congratulate Devon, and gave him some tips on how to promote his missing singer. Later Neil and Harmony arrived, and they began bonding over music.

After Devon confided in Harmony that he was having some trouble hearing the finer parts of the tracks in editing Angelina's song, Harmony suggested to Tucker that he look further into some Cochlear implant research that his company was already funding to help Devon. Devon initially refused help from Tucker when he found out, but Harmony and Neil talked him into giving Tucker a chance to help his son. Devon was scheduled for surgery, and Tucker let Devon use his private jet to go to Dallas. Devon asked Neil and Harmony to accompany him. Later Tucker convinced Devon to allow him to go along, saying that he needed to be there "to make sure everything goes all right."

The evening before Devon's surgery, while at a restaurant in Dallas, Tucker toasted Devon saying he had "such great respect the man who happens to be my son." But seeing how wound up Harmony was, and how she and Neil were enjoying each other, Tucker warned her not to get involved with Neil, and that he was looking out for Sofia, his oldest friend. Harmony claimed that she was not high nor after Neil. Devon had a transducer successfully implanted in each middle ear, but came out of surgery temporarily deaf, as expected. Devon went home to heal for a few weeks before the devices were to be turned on.

Harmony happened to meet physical therapist Sarge at Crimson Lights, and remembering him from her AA meetings, she admitted craving a hit on a crack pipe. Sarge listened to her and gave her advice, but after he admitted that he was not an addict, but went to AA to support a patient, Harmony got mad, told him that her life was none of his business then, and left.

When the implant devices were finally turned on, the whole family was there to rejoice when Devon could hear clearly again. His first request was to hear Angelina's new song, and he was amazed that thanks to Tucker it sounded the way he had heard it in his head.

Neil became disenchanted with Sofia's integrity, and spent the evening with Lily, Cane, and Harmony. Their fooling around together at Devon's recording studio and cheering him up caused Neil and Harmony to get even closer when they slow-danced and kissed. Neil and Harmony admitted that they were drawn to each other, but would try to avoid each other for everyone's sake. But later Neil admitted to Sofia that he had feeling for Harmony, and Sofia was crushed.

Ashley, already upset with Tucker's underhanded business dealings, discovered that Tucker and Genevieve had a past together, but he had never bothered to tell her, so she walked out in a snit. Tucker was cheered up by Harmony, and they ended up in bed together, when Ashley suddenly walked in on them. When Katherine found out, she asked Harmony to move out. Devon took both Tucker and Harmony to task for disillusioning him about how they had both changed and they could be a family. Sofia told Harmony she hadn't changed a bit, and to stay away from Neil. Harmony was approached by her old drug dealer, but down as she was, she managed to just say no. Sarge saw it, congratulated her, and offered his support.