Max Fischer lives with his widower father, who works as a barber. In the second grade, Max wrote a one-act play about Watergate that earned him a scholarship to attend Rushmore, a prestigious private school. There, he spent most of his time joining and starting up extra-curricular activities, at the expense of his grades. After being kicked out of Rushmore, however, he began attending Grover Cleveland Elementary, a local public school. Initially Max struggled to settle down at his new school, but eventually put his creativity to work in his new environment, particularly within the school's theatre department, where he began producing new plays.