The Hunger Games.

PLOT.

The nation of Panem consists of a wealthy Capitol ruling twelve poorer districts. As punishment for a past rebellion, each district must provide two "tributes" - one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 selected by lottery (the "Reaping") - once every year to compete in the Hunger Games; they must fight to the death in an arena, with the sole survivor rewarded with fame and wealth.

In District 12, when Primrose Everdeen is chosen in her first Reaping, her older sister Katniss, an expert archer, volunteers to take her place. Peeta Mellark, a baker's son, is selected as the other district tribute. Katniss and Peeta are taken to the Capitol accompanied by their mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, a past District 12 victor and heavy drinker, and chaperone Effie Trinket.

During a TV interview with host Caesar Flickerman, Peeta reveals his love for Katniss. She is outraged, believing it to be a ploy to gain favor with Sponsors who can provide gifts during the Games, but discovers Peeta is sincere.

The televised Games begin with the tributes positioned in front of weapons and supplies piled in and around a structure called the Cornucopia. Katniss ignores Haymitch's advice to avoid the temptation, and barely escapes death in the inevitable melee over the supplies; eleven others are not so lucky.

She tries to get as far away from the others as possible in the forest, but is eventually treed by the Careers (Marvel, Glimmer, Cato and Clove; tributes from Districts 1 and 2 who almost always win the Games due to their training at special academies) and Peeta. Rue, the District 11 girl, is hiding in a nearby tree and quietly draws her attention to a tracker jacker nest. Katniss drops the nest on her besiegers; the poisonous flying insects kill Glimmer and drive the rest away. Stung herself, Katniss loses consciousness. When she wakes up, she finds that Rue has taken care of her for days. They become friends and allies.

Katniss devises a plan to destroy the pile of supplies the Careers have gathered together. With Rue acting as a decoy to draw their enemies away, Katniss sets off mines planted around the supplies. Afterward, she hears Rue's call for help. When Katniss frees Rue from a trap, she has to dodge a spear thrown by Marvel, which impales Rue. Katniss kills Marvel with her bow, then tearfully comforts the dying Rue, whose televised death sparks a riot in Rue's district. Panem's President, Coriolanus Snow, summons head gamemaker Seneca Crane to express his displeasure at how these Games are turning out; instead of providing a safety valve for social unrest, they are having the opposite effect.

Haymitch convinces Crane to make a rule change to appease the anger in the districts. It is announced that tributes from the same district can win as a team. Katniss then searches for Peeta and finds him with a badly infected leg from a sword wound. When a feast is proclaimed at the Cornucopia, with the promise that each tribute will find what they need there, Peeta insists that Katniss not risk herself to get medicine for him. However, when he falls asleep, she heads there. Upon arrival, she is ambushed and pinned by Clove, but when Clove boasts that she killed Rue, she is killed by Thresh, the District 11 male. Thresh tells Katniss that he will let her go this one time for Rue.

Crane eventually unleashes a pack of hound-like creatures, resulting in Thresh's death. Katniss and Peeta flee to the roof of the Cornucopia, where they find Cato, the only other survivor. After a struggle, Katniss wounds Cato with an arrow and Peeta hurls him to the creatures below. With Peeta and Katniss apparently victorious, the rule change is suddenly revoked. Peeta tells Katniss to shoot him. She instead gives him half of the Nightlock (poisonous berries) they collected. Before they can commit suicide, the couple is hastily proclaimed the victors of the 74th Hunger Games.

Haymitch warns Katniss that she has made powerful enemies with her display of defiance. Crane is locked in a room with a bowl of Nightlock. As Peeta and Katniss return to District 12, President Snow ponders the situation.