Six months after her Hunger Games victory, Katniss Everdeen finds herself under President Snow's watchful eye, and must prove that she and Peeta's double win was truly due to their undying love for each other. But Snow's plans have only just begun, and when the 75th annual Games begins, Katniss's life will change for ever.
Katniss and Peeta's unprecedented co-victory in the 74th Hunger Games stirs an uprising. President Snow visits Katniss to threaten the lives of everyone she knows and holds dear if she doesn't do all she can to toe the line and quell the unrest. As her best efforts fail, Plutarch Heavensbee (a former games-master, now returned) meets with Snow to implement a Quarter Quell, by which to gather all former Hunger Game victors and have them eliminate each other. Katniss and Peeta end up in the Quarter Quell but must form alliances in order to survive; however, those with whom Katniss prefers to ally herself seem to be for emotional rather than tactical reasons.