In the idyllic, coastal fishing village of Balsam Cove, Maine, middle-aged lobsterman James Edward's life is unmoored after the sudden death of his beloved wife. Alone, he is floundering in grief and guilt; struggling through the motions of everyday life. His children have drifted away. He's isolated himself from friends and neighbors. At best, his sternman is unreliable. Even the cat has run off.

When a young mystery girl on a ratty old bicycle appears down by the dock, James becomes intrigued by her daily presence. It's not long before "almost ten" year-old Natasha forcefully introduces herself to James, amusing him by staking out her own territory at the shore.

As Natasha seemingly makes it her business to keep an eye on James, he sets out to find what wind the precocious child blew in on, who she belongs to, and why she's always alone. The pair begin to form an unlikely bond, but as the new friends grow closer, more than James reckoned for comes to light. In the tangled web of the past and present, loss and grief; family secrets surface, old ghosts reappear, and illicit activity is exposed that threatens the sheltered fabric of the community and their very lives.

Told in alternating perspectives of the main characters, James and Natasha is contemporary, character-driven novel set in a small coastal Maine town. Themes of grief, family, resilience, and community are explored through the intersecting lives of the two main characters; James, a widowed lobsterman, and Natasha, a precocious young girl who has newly arrived in town with her mother.