What is the role of consumers and producers in a free-market system

A free market society has consumers and producers. The consumers are the people who buy the goods, kinda like a family. (Ex. lets say a mom cooks food and feeds the family. The kids and husband would the the consumers but lets say they bought the food from the store, that is what consumers do.) A producer, is the manufacturer, (Ex. Nike, Adidas and McDonald's.) The consumer buys goods from the producer.