After winning the Hunger Games in the previous novel, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark return home to District 12, a poor sector in the fictional Country of Panem. On the day that Katniss and Peeta are to start the victory tour of the Country, she is visited by President Snow. He explains that he is angry at her for threatening to commit suicide with Peeta at the end of the Hunger Games, which permitted them both to win. President Snow tells Katniss that when she defied the Capitol, she started a chain reaction and has created talk of a rebellion in the districts. He threatens to kill her best friends, Gale, if she cannot prove to everyone in the Panem that her act was not one of defiance, but that she was instead lost in an intense love for Peeta.
The first stop on the victory tour was district 11, the home of Katniss's friend and ally in the Hunger Games, Rue, before she died. During the ceremony, Katniss says a quick speech to the people in district 11, thanking them for their tributes. When she is done an old man whistles a tune that Rue used in the arena to tell Katniss that she was safe. The song acts as a symbol, and everyone salutes Katniss in the same gesture that she used to say farewell to Rue. Katniss is taken away but not before she sees Peacekeepers shoot the whistling man in the head. Katniss and Peeta then proceed to travel to all 12 districts and the Capitol. During an interview, Peeta proposes to Katniss in publicity, hoping to settle the dispute between Katniss and President Snow. Despite this, Katniss learns that their attempt of subduing rebellion in the districts have failed. After they have returned home from the victory tour, it is announced that the 75th Hunger games, 24 of the current pool of victors will be forced back into the arena to fight to the death again. This is an honer of the Quarter Well, an event that occurs every 25th year of the Games, and allows the Capitol to introduce a twist. Knowing that she and Peeta will both likely be competing in the Games a second time, Katniss decides that she will devote herself to protecting Peeta.
During the games Katniss and Peeta both team up with two other victors, Finnick, a 24 year old man who successfully survived the games at the age of 14, and Mags, an 80 year old Women, both from District 4. After Mags' death, Peeta and Katniss, and Finnick join forces with Johanna Mason, a sarcastic and often cruel female victor of district 7, and Beetee and Wiress, an older couple from district 3 who are said to be very smart. Wiress soon proves her genius by revealing to Katniss that the arena is arranged like a clock, with all of the arena's disasters occurring on a timed chart. After Wiress is killed Katniss learns of Beetee's plan to harness lightning in order to supposedly electrocute two other victors.
Will this work as planned, and will Katniss and Peeta live another day? Find out by reading the book Catching Fire.
