Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark both survived the Hunger Games. Both returned home wanting and expecting a somewhat peaceful future. But the Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge.
Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance, Peeta has turned his back on her completely, and there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol — a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.
Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.
The rest of Victory Tour fell into a routine (giving speeches, eating fancy dinners, riding on the train, and sleeping). Finally, Katniss and the crew get to the Capitol. That night, when she and Peeta go to get interviewed by Caesar, Peeta performs a fake proposal to Katniss which she accepts. Caesar is beside himself, the audience is hysterical, and the crowds in the districts are overflowing with happiness. President Snow then makes an unexpected appearance to congratulate the newly engaged couple. Katniss then makes a discreet gesture to President Snow to ask him if she was convincing enough to which he replies "no" with an almost imperceptible shake of the head.
Later President Snow appears on TV with a wooden box, and reminds the audience of the dark days and when the Hunger Games were born. He also states that every 25 years, the anniversary of the Hunger Games is marked by a Quarter Quell, a glorified version of the Games. He talks about the first Quell, when every district was made to vote on who was sent to the Hunger Games. In the second Quell, every district was forced to send twice as many tributes into the Hunger Games. The wooden box holds the information for the 3rd Quarter Quell. Snow pulls out an envelope and states that the male and female tributes will be reaped from the existing pool of victors. Since District 12 has only three winners, Peeta, Haymitch, and Katniss, Katniss knows that she is now going to be forced to go back to the Hunger Games.