Born in London on 10 May 1916, Lane was raised by middle-class traveling salesman Robert Pryce (W. Morgan Sheppard) in a strict and regimented home.

Some time later was hired by advertising agency Putnam Powell and Lowe, and was eventually promoted to an executive position responsible for mergers and takeovers.

Lane angers Creative Director Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and becomes isolated from the company when he expresses PPL's lack of interest in a potentially lucrative account with Madison Square Garden.

[3] Don, Roger Sterling (John Slattery) and Bertram Cooper (Robert Morse) convince him to join them in starting a new agency and make him a named partner in exchange for him "firing" the three of them in order to void their contracts' non-compete clauses that would otherwise prohibit their continued work in advertising.

[4] It becomes clear that Lane has a knack for managing company revenues and controlling costs, a talent sorely needed in the agency that the other partners lack.

In Season 4, Lane's marriage falls apart when Rebecca, who genuinely loves him, finds the strains of homesickness and culture shock too much to bear and returns with their son to London indefinitely.

Around the same time, Lane begins a relationship with a young African-American Playboy Bunny named Toni (Naturi Naughton) and later introduces her to his father.

Lane does not touch any of the man's cash or credit cards but notices he has an attractive wife and keeps the wallet photo for himself prior to contacting the owner.

In Season 5, Lane faces severe financial troubles due to a tax demand and struggles to keep his balance at work.

As a partner, Lane is required to invest a further $50,000 (approximately $435,000 in 2021 USD) in order to keep the company afloat when it loses the Lucky Strike account.

To pay the tax, he hatches a plan: he extends the company's line of credit by an additional $50,000 by presenting their projections as firm commitments and reports the borrowed money as a profit surplus to the other partners and proposes that it be spent on Christmas bonuses for all employees.

The plan is frustrated when Don delays payment of the bonuses until the Christmas party two weeks later and Campbell points out that they will need the funds as seed money for the Jaguar account should they land it.

His lies to the bank are nearly uncovered when head of the Jaguar account Herb Rennet demands a night with Joan Harris in exchange for choosing SCDP.

To avoid detection, he convinces Joan to request a 5-percent partnership stake instead of a one-time cash payment but grows uneasy when the partners do not change their minds about taking Christmas bonuses.

[9] Upon returning home, Lane discovers that his wife Rebecca, unaware of their financial situation, has bought him a new Jaguar as a surprise and paid by cheque.

[10] She sees knocked-over furniture through the small gap in the door and notices a strong and unpleasant smell and goes into Pete Campbell's adjacent office to say that she thinks that something is wrong.

SCDP lands significant client Dow Corning on top of Jaguar and receives a hefty $175,000 insurance payout from Lane's death (approximately $1.5 million in 2021 USD) and posts its first profitable quarter.

Suffering guilt and haunted by visions of his brother Adam, who hanged himself in a similar way, Don chooses to refund Lane's $50,000 partnership fee to the widowed Rebecca Pryce.

In response, Rebecca says that Lane was worth much more to the agency than $50,000 and accuses Don and the others of filling "a man like that with ambition" and causing his corruption and eventual suicide.