Plot Summary

The novel picks up where the first book left off, where the characters of Katniss and Peeta are living the life of victors in District 12. They go on a Victor’s Tour and attempt to quench the rebellion that’s brewing but to no avail. 

‘Spoiler-free’ Catching Fire Summary

Katniss and Peeta have returned home from the 74th Hunger Games to a hero’s welcome. They are no longer poor and live in luxury. Soon, they must go on a Victor’s Tour around the districts and the Capitol. President Snow visits Katniss right before the tour begins. He informs her that she needs to keep up her pretend romance with Peeta to prevent an uprising. 

Katniss and Peeta try their best to convince the people that they are in love. However, things do not go as planned. Sensing a threat, President Snow takes matters into his own hands. It is the 75th Hunger Games and the Quarter Quell – a special edition of the Hunger game that calls for an extra dose of barbarism – and Snow announces that the participants are going to be picked from the existing pool of victors. Thus, Katniss and Peeta are in danger of facing the horrors of the Hunger Games once again. 

Catching Fire Summary

Spoiler alert: Important details of the novel are revealed below

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark now live in the Victors Village of District 12. They are rich enough to afford anything they want and have enough food for their families. Gale has begun working in the mines, and Katniss sees him only on Sundays. The relationship between Katniss and Peeta is strained because he has realized that Katniss was only pretending to be in love with him during the Hunger Games. However, the two of them must go on a Victor’s Tour soon, where they must pretend to be in love once again.

Before the tour begins, President Snow visits Katniss. He tells her that she needs to convince the districts that her trick with the berries was an act of love, not an act of rebellion. Otherwise, the districts may revolt. Katniss goes on the tour and soon realizes that she will have to continue pretending to be in love with Peeta for the rest of her life. This means marrying him.

Peeta apologizes to Katniss for the way he behaved after the Hunger Games. The two of them decide to be friends in real life. The first stop in the Victor’s Tour is District 11, Rue’s district. Katniss unwittingly sets off a show of respect for herself and protest against the Capitol – started by an old man in the district. The old man is executed. At the end of the tour, Katniss and Peeta get publicly engaged. They attend a feast in President Snow’s mansion. Here, Katniss meets the new Head Gamemaker, Plutarch Heavensbee, who sports a watch with the image of a Mockingjay on it. Katniss returns home to realize that there is an uprising in District 8. 

Katniss runs off to the woods where she asks Gale to run away with her. However, once Gale realizes that there might be a rebellion against the Capitol, he wishes to stay and fight. Katniss then asks Peeta to run away with her, and he agrees. However, their plans are derailed when they find Gale being whipped almost to death. He is being punished for illegal poaching by the new Head Peacekeeper in District 12. 

It is soon time for the Quarter Quell announcement. Every 25 years, the Quarter Quell is held, where the Capitol introduces a sadistic twist in the Hunger Games. President Snow announces that the participants in the 75th Hunger Games will be reaped from the existing pool of victors from each district. Since District 12 has only one female victor, Katniss is going back into the arena once again. However, this time she wishes to keep Peeta alive instead of herself. She enlists Haymitch’s help in doing so. He agrees to volunteer for Peeta in case his name is called first at the reaping. The three of them begin training intensely for the Games.

However, it is Haymitch’s name that is called at the reaping. Peeta volunteers for him instead to keep Katniss alive. Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol, where they meet the other Victors. Katniss dislikes Finnick Odair, the male tribute from District 4, and Johanna Mason, the female tribute from District 7. She wants to become allies with the physically weak but smart tributes from District 3, Beetee and Wiress, and the 80-year-old woman from District 4, Mags, instead.

In the pre-Games interview, Peeta falsely announces that Katniss is pregnant. This announcement makes even the people in the Capitol understand the barbarism behind the Games. Soon, the Games begin. Right before she is launched into the arena, Katniss witnesses her stylist, Cinna, being beaten to death for designing her a Mockingjay costume during the interview.

In the arena, which is a tropical island, Finnick tells Katniss that they are allies. She does not believe him until she realizes that he is wearing a bracelet that belonged to Haymitch. Thus, Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, and his co-tribute, Mags, set off into the jungle together. They encounter a force field around the arena, which nearly kills Peeta. Finnick brings him back to life, and a dense fog depends upon the four of them. They realize that the fog is poisonous and run away from it. However, Mags dies in the fog.

The three of them make it to the beach where they meet Johanna Mason, Wiress, and Beetee. Johanna informs Katniss that she saved the two tributes for her. Katniss does not understand what she means, but she soon realizes that the other tributes are trying to keep her and Peter alive. She does not know why. 

Katniss and her allies figure out that the arena is rigged like a clock. Each hour brings upon a new horror. This is what Plutarch Heavensbee’s watch signified. During this time, Wiress is killed by another tribute, while Finnick saves Peeta in the ensuing fight. Katniss and Peeta spend the night kissing and holding each other. Peter tries to convince Katniss to return home to her family, but she remains determined to keep him alive instead.

The next day, Beetee comes up with a plan to eliminate the other tributes. He wants to set up a trap for them at the beach and electrocute them with the help of a highly conductive wire. He would use the lightning that strikes a tree at noon and midnight to do so. Katniss and Johanna set off to carry the wire from the tree to the beach, but are apprehended by another tribute. Johanna cuts away the tracker from Katniss’s arm and fends off the other tribute. However, Katniss thinks that Johanna tried to kill her.

Katniss goes off in search of Peeta but is unable to find him. She finds Beetee in a weakened state, holding a knife with a wire wrapped around it. She understands what he was trying to do, and wraps the wire around one of her arrows. As the lightning strikes, Katniss lets the arrow lose against a chink in the force field. This blasts open the force field, knocks everyone out, and causes a blackout. A hovercraft appears to retrieve Katniss.

Katniss opens her eyes to find Haymitch, Finnick, and Plutarch. They inform her that rescuing her was a part of the plan to start the rebellion against the Capitol. They tell Katniss that she needs to be the face of the rebellion as the Mockingjay. However, they also inform her that they could not rescue Peeta and Johanna, who are now in the hands of the Capitol. Katniss feels betrayed by Haymitch. In the end, she meets Gale, who informs her that her family is safe, but the Capitol has razed District 12 to the ground.

FAQs