Katniss Everdeen is a 16 year old girl living in Panem, a country that replaces the United States after an apocalypse. Her family, along with the rest of her district, live in poverty, barley getting enough to eat. This is the same as the other 11 Districts, but not the Capitol. In the Capitol, no work is done, there is an overabundance of food, money, and interesting fashion. Each year, the Capitol host the "Hunger Games," a time in which one boy and one girl are selected at random from each district, to fight to the death against each other, in a Capitol-created arena.
The book starts out on the day of the Reaping, or the drawing when the tributes are selected. Katniss starts her usual morning routine; getting up, meeting her best friend Gale, and hunting for the morning. This morning though, they have to be back early for the Reaping. At the main event, the mayor tells the same story as always, about how North America used to be where Panem is currently and how Panem must never make the mistakes the Untied States did. Next comes the actual reaping. Katniss's name is in the drawing over twenty times (because of all the food she has received in exchange) while her sister Prim's name is only in the drawing once, because it is her first year. Effie, an over-excited hunger games-enthusiast from the Capitol, draws the name from the girl bowl. She took a few breaths and finally read the card, "Miss Primrose Everdeen!" Katniss is in awe that her sister got chosen out of the hundreds of other cards in the bowl. It takes her a while, but eventually she starts freaking out and screaming for them not to take Prim away. Then, in desperation, Katniss yells, "I volunteer as tribute!!!"
After volunteering to take part in the Hunger Games, Katniss gets a brief goodbye with a few family members and close friends. Here, she makes her mother promise to care for Prim, listens to Gale when he says he won't let them starve, accepts a mockingjay pin token from her friend Madge, and promises Prim to do everything in her power to stay alive and come back to her.
Katniss and Peeta are them whisked away onto a train taking them to the Capitol, where they would meet their stylists and mentors. Haymitch, one mentor, lives in District 12 as a former winner of the Games, and travels with them to the Capitol. Once in the Capitol, Katniss meets Cinna, her stylist, who is a kind-hearted man who truly believes that Katniss could win. Later in the nationwide interview with all of the tributes, Peeta does the unthinkable, by pronouncing his love for Katniss. Katniss is mad because she doesn't like him, and also feels objectified, as if she needs a man in order to win.
Days later, after the training and receiving an almost perfect score, it is time for the Games to begin. Haymitch tells Katniss and Peeta that first priority it to find water. But, as soon as the games begin, Katniss sees a bow and arrow and decides to go for it, but she decided too late. Instead she runs for an orange backpack, which turns out to be very useful and full of a sleeping bag and a little food. She is far enough away from the others, but completely without water. She sleeps successfully another few nights, until she is awoken by a wall of fire and fireballs. She gets severely burned and finally finds water to drink and soak her leg in.
After escaping the pack of career tributes including the non-career Peeta, Katniss scales a tree, right next to a hive of Tracker Jackers. They are genetically altered bees that will "track" and hunt you down. Katniss doesn't notice, that is, until Rue, another tribute points it out. The two work together to drop it onto the careers below, killing one. From this point on, Katniss and Rue stick together as allies.
A couple days later, Katniss gets an idea to destroy the careers' food supply. Rue and Katniss come up with an elaborate plan, and in the middle of it, Rue gets caught in a net. Calling for help, Rue attracts the attention of another tribute, who spears her through the gut. Katniss arrives just in time to watch. Instinctively, she turns around and shoots the tribute with the bow and arrow she had stolen from another dead tribute. Rue and the other tribute are now dead. Katniss cries for awhile, but eventually moves on.
The next day, the head Gamemaker's voice interrupts the game. Instead of the usual one winner, there will be allowed two winners, as long as they are from the same district. Katniss hurries to find Peeta, and finds him camouflaged by a creek. This is when Katniss starts acting romantic and kiss-y. She tends his wounds and gives him a biiiig kiss, rewarded by sponsor's gift: a pot of hot soup. But, Peeta's wounds are very bad. If his leg slash wasn't treated within days, he would die. Several bowls of soup later, the head Gamemaker announces that there will be a banquet for all tributes. At the place of each tribute would be a bag marked with the district number, and had something each of the tributes needed desperately. Peeta didn't want Katniss to go, but Katniss tricked him and went anyway. She almost got away safe when another tribute slashed her across her face with a knife. She almost killed Katniss, but luckily the other tribute from Rue's district smashed her head with a rock before she actually killed Katniss. In the morning, the two are lovey-dovey, and they go out together to get food. One tribute is apparently following them, but steals their food, which turns out to be poisonous berried that Peeta gathered on accident. She dies.
One final obstacle the Gamemakers throw at the remaining three tributes (Katniss, Peeta, and Cato, an arrogant, aggressive District 2 Career). The Gamemakers have created killer wolves, each designed to look like each of the dead tributes. Through a battle against Cato and the wolves, Katniss and Peeta are able to escape the wolves and send Cato to his death into the pack.
Katniss and Peeta should have won, right? But just as the gong sounded signaling Cato's death, the head Gamemaker comes on the loudspeaker and tells Katniss and Peeta that there have been yet another rule change, which, if I tell you would spoil the book. If you want to be spoiled, read below, if not, read the book first.
*****SPOILER BELOW*****
The rule change is that only one victor will be allowed. Katniss and Peeta look at eachother and Katniss readies her arrow, but can't bring herself to kill him. So, in romantic desperation, Katniss removes the poisonous berries from her bag offing some to Peeta. On the count of three they put the berries into their mouths, but before they could swallow, the head Gamemaker yells, "Stop! Stop! Ladies and gentlemen, I am leased to present the victors of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark!"
