[1] In 1943, precipitated by separate personal tragedies, two poor families, the Lambs and the Pickles, flee their rural homes to share a large house called Cloudstreet in Perth, Western Australia.

[4] The novel also explores several Australian cultural myths, including the idealisation of the Aussie battler, the heroic figure of the ANZAC, rural and suburban identity, and the idea of Australia as "the lucky country".

[7][8] Winton depicts Australia at this time as, for the most part, comfortable and conservative, characterised by backyard barbecues, by wives – who were no longer needed for the war effort – consigned to the home, and by the growth of the Australian dream.

The Australian Dictionary of Biography writes that Winton's novel Cloudstreet embodied the social impact of Cooke's crimes, which saw a change in personal and household security and a loss of a relaxed style of living.

Australian writer Marion Halligan praised Winton's prose, deeming it "full of energy, vitality, [and] wit".

"[6] In his introduction to the 2013 Folio Society edition, Australian writer Alex Miller calls it "Australia's most iconic novel" and "one of the greatest acts of the human imagination of the late twentieth century".