Lola Rose follows the life of young teenager Jayni Fenton. She runs away with her family, constituted by her mother, Nikki Fenton and her brother, Kenny Fenton, when the former two are abused by their alcoholic and gambling-addicted father.
The story follows their adoption of a different name when they come to live in London. This they do with the money that they gained from winning 10,000 pounds from a scratchcard and this is when Jayni takes up the name Lola Rose, the memorable title. The story goes on to show their changed lives when they begin to run out of money and have to deal with the repercussions of spousal abuse, familial troubles, alcoholism, child abuse and cancer.