Natasha and Other Stories is a short story collection that has linking plot lines. The main characters of all of the stories are the Berman family, who have long been Jewish, but now live in Canada, as they moved out of Latvia. Mark Berman, one of the families young sons, is the most prominent character in the collection.
The title story of the collection, "Natasha", involves Mark Berman, a teenager, and a young woman named Natasha. Mark Berman doesn't particularly like being Jewish, and isolates himself in the family's basement. Taking drugs and surrounding himself with other bad influences, Mark is not the ideal child of the family, but, of course, they still love him. Everything seems to continue unchanged in his life, until he meets Natasha.
Uncle Berman has married a Russian woman, who already had a daughter. The daughter, Natasha, has a mix of seductiveness and honesty about her, and Mark giving in to her would defy many typical Jewish morals. However, Mark decides to pursue her, and this overall has negative effects on the esteem of the family. Mark has officially lost his innocence, and this marks a large step in the life of a Jewish boy.
The remaining stories in the collection follow mark all the way from age 6 to 16. Two of the stories follow him to adulthood. In "Natasha", Mark is fourteen year old. For the most part, Mark Berman defies tradition Jewish customs, which upset the older members of his family. However, at this age, Mark feels that he can do anything he wants to do.
