After more nightmares, Katniss gives up on sleep and is released from the hospital. She notices that no one in District 13 mentions Peeta’s television appearance, so she takes Finnick into the woods, where they discard their communicators and privately discuss the hidden broadcast. Katniss becomes convinced that Gale and the rebel leadership saw Peeta’s message and chose not to tell her, supposedly to protect her. Her anger grows into a broader realization that people keep lying to her whenever it serves their plans.

The next day Katniss confronts Gale after noticing he has regained his communicuff. Gale admits he wanted to tell her about Peeta’s propo, but says Coin’s people feared it would make her too sick to function. Katniss rejects that excuse and accuses him of lying for Coin, which leaves both of them angry. Even so, she goes with the propo team to District 12, where Plutarch happily reports that the Mockingjay broadcasts are helping the rebels gain ground in multiple districts.

Back in the ruins of District 12, Katniss and Gale film unscripted footage among the wreckage of their old homes, the Meadow, and the woods. The destruction hits Katniss and Gale with renewed force, and Gale is pushed into reliving the firebombing on camera. During a break by the lake, Pollux silently asks Katniss to sing, and she unexpectedly performs the forbidden song "The Hanging Tree." The mockingjays echo it back, the crew captures the moment on film, and Plutarch immediately recognizes it as propaganda gold.

On the way back, Cressida films Katniss and Gale at their old hunting ledge, where shared memories briefly soften their hostility. Katniss later records a direct message at the bakery ruins, telling Peeta that District 12 is gone and no one remains to hear his call for a ceasefire. After Gale shows the scars from his whipping, Katniss goes to the Victor’s Village house to gather medicine for her mother. There Gale reminds her of the kiss she gave him after the whipping; they kiss again, but Gale bitterly tells Katniss that pain is the only thing that reliably gets her attention.

Exhausted after returning to District 13, Katniss misses most of the next day and is finally called to Command for a live Capitol broadcast. Snow appears with Peeta, who looks physically and mentally worse and argues for a ceasefire while blaming rebel attacks for infrastructure damage. Beetee successfully hacks the national transmission, inserting clips from the rebel propos and turning the program into a propaganda battle. Then, when Snow asks if Peeta has any final words for Katniss, Peeta fights through his condition to warn that District 13 will be "dead by morning." Snow orders the broadcast ended, and amid the interference the audience hears a blow strike Peeta and sees his blood hit the floor.