Ted tells stories. High on a cloud above Mount Washington, he peers down at the earth, listening to the memories of the mortal folk he watches. Lola, once a famous Hollywood bombshell, now a god, listens to his stories. Ted's words capture her heart, just as she captured the hearts of her fans.

Down on Earth, three families experience joy, tragedy, hope, and loss. Milton and Theresa are activists, conservationists, parents, lovers, fighters. Johnnie Cochan is a self-styled ecological leader, haunted by sadness and fear. And Carney is a disaster recovery specialist who can quench an oil-platform fire but finds love hard to hold onto. Through their attractions and battles, their futures become bound, as Cochan's vision for a new utopia, a massive construction project, threatens to rupture everything.

Whatever Lola Wants is story about stories—those we tell others, and those that fill us up. It is also about the stories we tell ourselves and the ways they make us who we are—admired artists, despised monsters, adored immortals.