After the Lamb family nearly loses their son, Fish, in a drowning accident they decide to relocate to start over. They end up sharing a house with the Pickles family on Cloudstreet in Perth.

Trying to make the best of a difficult situation, the industrious Lamb family opens a corner store in their living room. The Pickles family, however, isn’t dealing so well with their hardship.

Years have passed and resentment has grown within the families. The elder Lamb son can’t get over the accident that nearly killed his brother, blaming himself; he walks out on the family.

Sam Pickles has a nasty gambling addiction and has found himself and his family in great debt. His wife, Dolly, tries to help by skimming money from their store. Quick continues to have regret over his younger brother’s near-drowning experience.

Everything is going wrong on Cloudstreet. Rose is, emotionally, as far from her family as she will ever be. Quick is physically as far from Fish and his family as he will ever be. Oriel is furthest away from the faith she once had.

In this stirring finale an unlikely love story develops between Rose and Quick. Soon thereafter, she is pregnant with his baby and they end up getting married right at their home on Cloudstreet.