Post-apocalyptic North America has been replaced with the land of Panem, a country ruled by the Capitol. The work force is divided up into thirteen separate districts whose occupants essentially function as slave laborers, as they see little reward for their work and cannot leaves the confines of their districts. Every year, the Capitol hosts the Hunger Games: an event which draws one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 from each district to fight to the death in an arena over the course of several days. The Games are not only punishment for the thirteenth faction's rebellion years ago, but they remind the people of Panem that the Capitol exercises control over them and their children. When 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen's little sister is selected in the lottery for the Games, Katniss does something nearly unheard-of: she volunteers to take Prim's place. Now Katniss is almost guaranteed a death-sentence as District 12's female tribute as she travels to the Capitol for the Games alongside 12's other tribute, Peeta Melark. Under the frequently alcohol-influenced mentoring of ex-tribute Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss and Peeta train and ready themselves for the coming bloodbath. Katniss knows that she cannot afford to do anything but play the Capitol's game; she's promised Prim that she'll try her hardest to win and come home. This is easier said than done. The Arena is full of children--some of them vicious, deadly children, but children all the same. Katniss schemes and hides and is hunted, and when it looks as though there's a chance an alliance between herself and Peeta can win the Games, Katniss takes that chance.

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In Catching Fire, revolt brews. Since her flagrant act of rebellion in the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta have returned to District 12 as Victors. The Games aren't over yet, though; the Victory Tour of Panem's districts is approaching and President Snow himself pays Katniss a visit in District 12. Snow wants Katniss to convince Panem that her rebellion in the Games was not rebellion after all, but a mad act made by a girl in love, in the desperate hope of saving Peeta. With the Hunger Games behind her, all Katniss wants to do is forget the Games and focus on her family and best friend Gale. Now, Katniss is once again plunged into Snow's games as she and Peeta fake their romance, even going so far as having Peeta propose marriage. Yet Snow is not convinced. The Quarter Quell is approaching, calling for a special Hunger Games this year, and Snow does not let this opportunity go to waste. Instead of drawing tributes from each district's children this year, tributes are to be drawn from the existing pool of Victors. And Katniss is District 12's only female Victor. In the Arena once again, surrounded by other veterans she finds difficult to hate, Katniss is determined to save Peeta. The rebellion in Panem, however, is stronger than either of them could guess, and some of the other tributes have other plans.

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In Mockingjay, Peeta has been taken by the Capitol. District 12 has been bombed, the only surviving occupants fleeing to District 13, which has been operating undercover and is feeding the rebellion. Since Katniss, Beetee and Finnick O'Dair were rescued from the Arena, President Coin of District 13 has offered Katniss a position in their movement: to be the Mockingjay. Ever since her act of rebellion in those first Hunger Games, Katniss has been the face of the rebellion. Now she must act that role for 13 to ensure Peeta's rescue and an end to the Capitol. When Peeta is finally rescued--only to have had all his memories of Katniss hijacked by the Capitol so that he sees her as a monstrous threat--Katniss knows she cannot stay in 13 to be tormented by this new Peeta's presence. From the bombed hospitals of District 8 to the drastic military strategies of District 2, Katniss finds herself spreading hope by her mere presence as she travels Panem. The war effort eventually takes her, Finnick, Gale, Peeta and several others into the heart of the Capitol, where they face Snow and his tyranny once and for all.