By winning the annual Hunger Games, District 12 tributes Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have secured a life of safety and plenty for themselves and their families, but because they won by defying the rules, they unwittingly become the faces of an impending rebellion.

As they hunt for a bunch of paintings worth a walloping half a billion dollars, Juan Cabrillo and the crew aboard the Oregon chance upon a much bigger problem. A Filipino rebel leader is not only using them to finance the insurgency but has discovered a drug developed yet never used by the Japanese during World War II that makes mega warriors of ordinary soldiers.

Animosity between the genetically-engineered Elites and their human subjects is fierce, and many rebels fight back against Elite rule. Hays Baker is a high-ranking agent in the Elite forces and at the forefront of keeping the humans under control. However, Hays is unknowingly hiding a secret that will make him the greatest threat to the Elite regime, and their number one target.