Katniss wakes up to Peeta calling her name, she has been out for quite a while. Peeta tells her he woke up in the night and saw her lying next to him in a pool of blood. She is dizzy and weak, so now Peeta must take care of her. The injection she gave him, right before she passed out, has worked and he is feeling much better.

The problem they face now is it is raining, so they can't hunt. Katniss tells Peeta the events which transpired at the feast. He is surprised Thresh let Katniss go, but she explains some people don't like to be beholding to anyone for any reason. This is how it is in the Seam and why she never forgot she owed Peeta, for giving her bread.

Katniss knows the audience is waiting for some more romance, but she fumbles as she tries to express her feelings for Peeta. He takes the matter into his own hands and kisses her. The next day Katniss prompts Peeta into telling her when he first formed a crush on her. She knows the story is what Haymitch is looking for, so the sponsors will be more amenable to sending them supplies. The story works and a basket of food is sent to Katniss and Peeta.

Even though they want to devour the food in the basket, they realize they need to ration it. To pass time Katniss and Peeta discuss how Haymitch won the Games; they decide he outsmarted the others.

Then Peeta sees Thresh's face projected in the sky, which means he is dead. Now they know only four of them are left in the Games. Katniss is saddened by Thresh's death, because she feels he was a good person.

The rain has stopped and they know they must go out and hunt for food. They also know it is extremely dangerous to be out, because Cato is probably hunting for them. Peeta doesn't walk quietly, because of his wounded leg and his lack of hunting experience. He suggests he forage for berries while Katniss hunts for meat. She teaches him a bird song as a signal he is all right.

After a while she realizes she has not heard from him and hurries back to him. He is nowhere to be found, but she sees him just as she is about to shoot an arrow in his direction. He has picked some poisonous berries, which Foxface has taken. The cannon fires to signal Foxface is dead. She has died from the eating the berries.

Katniss explains to Peeta that Foxface was starving. She took the berries because he showed no signs of being afraid of the berries. Peeta feels bad that his mistake cost Foxface her life. They take some of the poisonous berries with them to use on Cato.

After eating, they head back to the cave for the night. The next morning, they discover the stream has been drained and so has the ponds. The Gamemakers want the final showdown between them and Cato to take place at the lake, in the open. They decide to go there right away, since they are rested and full of food.

When they reach the lake, night is beginning to fall, which concerns Katniss because they have only one pair of night vision glasses. As they wait, Katniss sings the song Rue taught her. It is picked up by the mockingjays who sing it, until suddenly they stop in the middle of their song.

Cato is running towards them. Katniss shoots him with an arrow, but it bounces off him, because he is wearing body armor. Cato is not running at them, instead he is running away from beasts that are chasing him. He runs between them and Katniss follows him, not thinking about helping Peeta, as she tries to save herself.

They are being chase by mutations, half wolf, and half human. Katniss, remembers Peeta as she is approaching the Cornucopia. She sees he is about to be overtaken by one of the mutants, called mutts, and she fires an arrow down its throat. Peeta makes it to the Cornucopia and with Katniss' help is able to reach the top.

Katniss notices the animals have different colored eyes and wear collars with numbers on them. She realizes they are the dead tributes, which have been transformed into the mutts. They try to pull Peeta off the Cornucopia, but he stabs one and Katniss is able to pull him back up.

While they are preoccupied with the mutts, Cato takes Peeta prisoner, by putting him into a headlock. If Katniss shoots him, she knows he will take Peeta over the side with him. Instead, after a stalemate, Peeta finds the solution and draws an X on Cato's hand. Katniss shoots Cato's hand, forcing him to release Peeta as he falls off the Cornucopia. The mutts attack Cato, but his death is not swift. After a long night of being tortured by the mutts, he is near enough the Cornucopia for Katniss to shoot him with an arrow. This shot kills him; Katniss and Peeta think they have won.

But Claudius Templesmith announces the previous rule change has been rescinded and only one of them can win. Katniss and Peeta can't kill each other, so they decide to simultaneously eat the poisonous berries. They will either die or the Gamemakers will be forced to name them both winners. It is as they are about to swallow the berries, that they are both named the victors of the Hunger Games.

Peeta and Katniss become closer as they tend to each other's wounds. They learn to work together, which saves them from the mutts and Cato. The rule change forces them to think out of the box, they gamble the Gamemakers will not allow both to die, as they simultaneously eat the poisonous berries. The gamble works and they are named the victors of the Games.