Through horrible physical deformities which were almost impossible to describe, Joseph Carey Merrick spent much of his life exhibited as a fairground freak until even 19th century sensibilities could take no more. Hounded, persecuted and starving, he ended up one day at Liverpool Street Station where he was rescued, housed and fed by the distinguished surgeon Frederick Treves. To Treve's surprise, he discovered during the course of their friendship that lurking beneath the mass of Merrick's corrupting flesh lived a spirit that was as courageous as it had been tortured, and a nature as gentle and dignified as it had been deprived and tormented. This is a moving story of a tragic individual and his survival against overwhelming odds in Victorian England.