Owen Lars was the son of moisture farmer Cliegg Lars and the stepbrother of Anakin Skywalker. He married Beru Whitesun, and after his father's death, he inherited his job as a moisture farmer. In 19 BBY, Beru convinced Owen to adopt Anakin's son, Luke Skywalker, as Anakin had turned to the dark side and became the infamous Darth Vader.

Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, Owen and Luke met with the customary local Jawa traders, looking for a droid that could speak Bocce. Unbeknownst to Owen, one of the droids was in fact C-3PO—now in gold plating—and his counterpart, astromech droid R2-D2. When Luke found Leia's hidden message inside of R2-D2, he told Owen and Beru that the astromech claimed to belong to an "Obi-Wan" Kenobi. Trying to keep Luke from learning about his father, Owen ordered him to give the droid a memory wipe.

The next morning, Luke left early to find R2-D2, who had ran off the night before to find his former "master." Owen and Beru never saw him again, for they were killed by Imperial stormtroopers who were looking for R2-D2 on behalf of Darth Vader, after the droid escaped with the stolen plans for the first Death Star. According to the recollection of stormtrooper Davin Felth, the farmers were killed after Owen spat in the face of the squad's commanding officer.

Laze Loneozner and his wife Camie looked after the Lars farm for the first few months after Owen's death, until Luke returned to Tatooine and gave his inheritance to the alien named Throgg.