Mary Dinkle, a chubby lonely eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max Horovitz, a 44-year-old, severely obsess, Jewish man with Aspergers Syndrome living in the chaos of New York, strike up an extraordinary bond. Spanning twenty years and two continents, Mary and Maxs friendship survives much more than the average diet of lifes ups and downs. Their story is innocent but not nave and takes you on a journey exploring friendship, autism, taxidermy, psychiatry, alcoholism, where babies come from, obesity, kleptomania, sexual difference, trust, copulating dogs, religious difference, agoraphobia and much, much more.