Lane Kim later Lane Hyun-kyung Van Gerbig, played by Keiko Agena, was born and raised in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. She is the rock-and-roll loving child of strict Seventh-Day Adventist/Korean/Vegan parents. (Lane's father, known only as Mr. Kim, is never seen on camera, nor are his whereabouts ever mentioned, but Lane refers to her father in Season 1, Episode 1, and to her "parents" on many other occasions, and specifically refers to "my mother and father" in Season 2, plus Lane is seen getting into a car and being driven away by a faceless man at one point in the series, while being taken to the airport to visit Korean relatives for the summer). At a very young age, Lane was forced to start hiding her interests and hobbies from her family, and she uses loose floorboards and the back of her closet to hide her enormous collection of non-Christian music, books and cosmetics because of her mother's strong disapproval of these items. Lane and her best friend Rory Gilmore use hollowed out books and a variety of other pretexts and subterfuge in an attempt to help Lane live a more mainstream life. She constantly complains of her mother's over-protectiveness and strictness, which she views as trying to control her life.
Lane attends Stars Hollow High along with Rory Gilmore until Rory leaves that high school and begins attending Chilton Academy in her sophomore year. Lane is a cheerleader and describes herself as a "dedicated audiophile," although this is a bit of a misnomer, since audiophiles, by definition, are most interested in the technical details associated with high fidelity recording and playback, whereas Lane is actually interested in the history of modern music, its production, and its influences on pop culture, which make her more of a music fanatic. Eventually, she joins a band consisting of Dave Rygalski, Brian Fuller, and Zach Van Gerbig (Todd Lowe). Lane and Dave begins a romantic relationship that largely involves intricate strategies for hiding their relationship from her mother and their bandmates until, in Season 3, they are forced by circumstances to make their relationship public and Dave is allowed to date Lane only because her mother believes Dave to be a devout Christian. The following year, Dave moves to California to attend college. Sebastian Bach's character, Gil, replaces Dave on guitar, and Zach replaces Dave as Lane's romantic interest. During the period of Rory and Lorelai's estrangement from each other in Season 6, Lane's relationship with her mother and with her band are featured more prominently than in prior years. In Season 6, the band splits up but later reunites when Zach proposes marriage to Lane while she is working at Luke's Diner, and they are married shortly thereafter. In Season 7, Lane becomes pregnant with twins. At the end of "Gilmore Girls Only" (Season 7, Episode 17), Lane gives birth to twin boys, Kwan and Steve.