A giant of a boy with a scarred face, big ears, huge feet, and an undeserved reputation as a violent person, narrator Max Kane is one of the two protagonists of the novel. He still mourns the death of his best friend, Kevin Avery, a brilliant kid made very small by a disease that prevented his bones from growing. Schoolmates called Kevin “Freak,” but when Max carried him around on his shoulders, they became known as “Freak the Mighty.”

Max meets Rachel when she’s tormented by a teenager who tries to steal her backpack. Max, who watched his own father kill his mother, can’t stand it when people are mistreated by others, and when he witnesses Rachel’s mom struck unconscious by Rachel’s stepfather, he rescues Rachel and they run away together. Several times during their journey, Max wants to escape the responsibility of watching over her, but he simply can’t abandon someone that way. When later she goes into the mine where her father died, he feels compelled to follow and protect her; when her stepfather becomes trapped there, Max rescues him as well.

Max learns that he’s a better person than he thinks, that he faces his fears and behaves heroically in dangerous situations, and that, despite his huge size and bad reputation, he’s a good and intelligent person.