The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in a dystopian future following a second
American Civil War. Fertility rates have collapsed worldwide, and the new totalitarian
and theonomic government of Gilead in the former United States brutally subjugates
women. Women are not allowed to own property, have careers, handle money, or learn to read.
June, a woman on the run with her husband, Luke, and their young daughter Hannah,
is captured by Gilead and sent to Boston to be enslaved as a “Handmaid”,
the term used to describe fertile women which the Gilead elite forcefully impregnate in
order to have children to raise with their wives. The Handmaids are trained and kept
in line by the cruel Aunt Lydia. When a new Handmaid named Janine disrespects Aunt Lydia,
she has her eye removed. June is also surprised to find her old friend Moira has also been enslaved
as a Handmaid. The two hatch an escape plan together, but only Moira makes it out of Gilead.
Some time later, June becomes the Handmaid for Gilead Commander Fred Waterford and his wife,
Serena. When Fred can’t get June pregnant, he is presumed to be infertile. Serena then suggests
that June enter into a romantic relationship with the Waterfords’ kindly driver, Nick,
in the hopes of him impregnating her. June is resistant at first,
but eventually she and Nick develop actual feelings for each other.
June also meets a Handmaid named Emily, who was part of a secret resistance group known as Mayday
that sought to take down Gilead. She also warns June that the Waterford house contained an Eye,
a spy for the Republic of Gilead. When her crimes against Gilead are discovered, Emily is forced
into genital mutilation surgery and banished to a workcamp known as the Colonies. June eventually
discovers that Nick is a spy for the Eyes, but he explains he only joined to ensure his boss,
Commander Waterford, committed no unlawful abuse against his servants and Handmaids.
When Mexican trade delegates arrive to evaluate Gilead’s methods,
June secretly asks the Mexican ambassador to help save her. The ambassador declines,
but their assistant does inform June that her husband Luke was still alive,
and promises to deliver him a message on June’s behalf. That message eventually gets to Luke as he
is living safely in Canada with a fellow refugee named Erin. He is overcome with emotions upon
learning that his wife is alive. June’s message for him? To find and save their daughter, Hannah.
On a night out with Commander Waterford to a brothel, June discovers that Moira had been
recaptured and was now forced to work as a Jezebel. Moira has lost all hope of freedom,
but June encourages her with the news that Luke had found safety in Canada. Inspired by June’s
words, Moira kills one of her clients and steals his car, escaping to Canada to reunite with Luke.
June then discovers that she is pregnant. Serena,
angry upon learning that her husband had visited the brothel, tells Fred that Nick
was the child’s actual father. Serena then takes June to her captured daughter,
Hannah, threatening Hannah’s life if June did anything to endanger the life of her new baby.
When Janine gives birth to Commander Putnam’s child, she attempts to take
the child for herself and publicly accuses Putnam of promising to leave his wife for
her. June helps diffuse the situation, saving the baby and leading to Janine
being taken into custody. Aunt Lydia then orders all of the Handmaids to stone Janine,
but they all refuse. For their disobedience, Aunt Lydia promises severe consequences.
As the season comes to a close, guards come to take June to her punishment,
although Nick promises her safety and asks for her to trust him.
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In season two of Handmaid’s Tale, Nick helps June escape her captors and places her in the
care of a man named Omar, who would take her to a plane headed for Canada. Unfortunately,
the plane is intercepted, Omar is killed, and June is recaptured and sent back to live
with the Waterfords. To make matters even more hopeless, June learns that Mayday has stopped
helping Handmaids due to the increased danger. When Nick shows concern for June’s depression,
the Waterfords arrange for him to marry a teenage girl, Eden,
in the hopes of diverting his attention from June. Although Nick professes his continued
love for June in secret, he is forced into an intimate relationship with his new wife so as
to not arouse any suspicions. When Eden begins an affair with a young Guardian named Isaac,
Nick is unbothered by it. This makes Eden realize her husband’s true feelings for
June. When Eden and Isaac are discovered to be having an affair, they are executed by Gilead.
Tired of the abuse and oppression, one of the Handmaids detonates a suicide bomb at
a large gathering, killing many handmaids and commanders, and seriously injuring Fred Waterford.
Serena steps up to lead her household while her husband recovers. To replace the dead handmaids,
Gilead is forced to bring in banished women from the Colonies to fill their roles. And so,
Emily and Janine return from their banishment, having been forced to work in a toxic waste site.
Nick and the Waterfords then travel to Canada on a diplomatic mission. While in Canada, Serena is
approached by a man named Mark, who was a part of the last remnants of the US government. He offers
to help Serena escape the oppression of Gilead if she agrees to publicly denounce the regime,
but Serena refuses. Meanwhile, Nick finds Luke and tells him that June was pregnant,
then gives him letters written by various Handmaids detailing their abuse. When Luke shares
the letters publicly, the Canadian government decides to end their peace talks with Gilead.
Upon the Waterfords return to Gilead, June asks Fred if she can be moved closer to her daughter,
Hannah, after giving birth. When Fred refuses, June confirms to him that her unborn child’s
father is actually Nick. Infuriated, Fred assaults June as Serena holds her down.
Following the assault, Fred arranges for Nick to take June to a secret meeting with Hannah.
Out in a remote location, June and Hannah are briefly reunited. After Hannah is taken away,
a group of Guardians arrive to investigate why Nick and June were there. Nick instructs
June to hide while the Guardians take him captive. Left alone in the middle of nowhere,
June is forced to give birth by herself. She names her new daughter Holly, after her mother,
and then fires a gun she had found in the hopes of drawing attention.
June is rescued and allowed by the Waterfords to nurse the baby, which they rename Nichole. June
is able to convince Serena to speak up about Gilead allowing girls to learn to read the
Bible. When Serena brings this up publicly, she has her finger removed as punishment.
Meanwhile, Emily is made the Handmaid of Commander Lawrence,
although he refuses to perform the Ceremony with her to get her pregnant. When Aunt
Lydia pays the Handmaid a visit, Emily brutally stabs her in an attempted murder.
Commander Waterford tries to convince June to have another baby with him,
this time one that’s actually his, and preferably a son. He offers to allow June to see Hannah more,
but June refuses. When a fire breaks out across the street, the Waterford housekeeper Rita,
a member of the rebellious Martha Network, urges June to take Nichole and flee. Nick holds Fred
at gunpoint to allow June to escape. When Serena catches June and Nichole escaping, she allows them
to leave, wanting a better life for her would-be daughter. Eventually, June is led by the Marthas
to an extraction point, just as Commander Lawrence arrives with Emily. June and Emily are both
confused by the Commander’s assistance, but don’t have time to question his motives. As he leaves,
a truck arrives to carry the women to safety. June gives Nichole to Emily, but instead of
joining them to freedom, she turns back to Gilead, resolved to save her daughter, Hannah.
In season three of The Handmaid’s Tale, Emily arrives in Canada and
delivers Nichole safely into the care of Luke and Moira. Finally free,
Emily is able to reunite with her wife, Sylvia, and son, Oliver.
Back in Gilead, Fred Waterford pins June’s escape attempt and Nichole’s
kidnapping on Emily. June is reassigned to serve as a handmaid to Commander Lawrence,
who kindly refuses to partake in the conception Ceremony,
as he was secretly involved in the Mayday rebel group. In Lawrence’s care, June is able to work
with the Marthas Network to devise a plan to rescue children from Gilead and send them to
safety and freedom in Canada. Unfortunately, when June tries to see her own daughter,
Hannah, she is caught and punished, and Hannah’s family is relocated to an unknown destination.
Meanwhile, tensions mount between Gilead and Canada, as it becomes public knowledge that
Luke was harboring the kidnapped Nichole. June arranges for a meeting between Luke and Serena,
so that Serena can spend time with her would-be baby. In Canada, Mark joins the
meeting and once again offers Serena a chance to escape the oppression of Gilead, and gives
her a satellite phone to secretly communicate with him. Serena gives Luke a message from June,
explaining that she had intended to name Nichole Holly, and that the baby’s father was Nick.
Following this, June joins the Waterfords and Aunt Lydia on a trip to Washington D.C.,
where they meet with the High Commander George Winslow. Even Aunt Lydia is horrified at the
extreme rules imposed in Washington, including the Handmaids’ lips being pierced shut and forced
to wear muzzles. The Waterfords and High Commander Winslow meet with Swiss diplomats hoping to strike
a peace deal between Gilead and Canada, which would include extraditing Nichole back home.
High Commander Winslow accompanies the Waterfords back to Boston, where he plans on implementing the
same mouth piercings and muzzles used on Handmaids in Washington. Meanwhile, Fred begins growing
suspicious of Commander Lawrence and his refusal to perform the customary Ceremony. Fred sends
Winslow, Serena, and Aunt Lydia to watch Lawrence perform the Ceremony on June, but June gives her
consent to Lawrence in order to protect him and his household from Fred’s wrath. Following the
Ceremony, June convinces Lawrence to join her plan in smuggling Gilead children into Canada. While at
Jezebels to meet with a potential accomplice, June runs into Winslow, who attempts to assault her.
June is forced to attack Winslow in self-defense, ultimately killing him. The Marthas help June
escape and dispose of Winslow’s body. As her plan to save the Gilead children moves closer toward
success, June begins to worry about Lawrence’s erratic wife Eleanor and the potential danger
she poses. When Eleanor overdoses on drugs, June chooses not to save her and in turn lets her die.
Meanwhile, the Waterfords arrange to meet with Mark in the hopes of securing Nichole’s return.
But Mark leads them into a trap in Canada, where Fred is arrested for war crimes. Serena is allowed
to spend time with Nichole, but when Fred realizes that Serena had been involved in Mark’s plan,
he exposes Serena’s own crimes committed in the name of Gilead, ensuring she was arrested as well.
In Gilead, June enacts her plan to smuggle children into Canada. As she and a group of
Marthas distract the Guardians, June’s Martha friend Rita manages to smuggle the children
onto an airplane departing for Canada. During the struggle with the Guardians,
June is shot. When the plane lands in Canada, the children are welcomed by Luke, Moira,
and Emily. Rita informs them that June was responsible for the plan to get the
children to safety. Back in Gilead, as June bleeds out from her gunshot wound,
she is found by Janine and the other Handmaids who carry her to safety.
In season four of The Handmaid’s Tale, June is nursed back to health by her fellow Handmaids
at a Mayday safehouse. The home belonged to Commander Keyes, whose new teenage wife Esther
is drugging him to ensure he never discovers her involvement with the Mayday rebellion group.
As June recovers and feels emboldened by the growing resistance, she decides that now was
the time to fight for the liberation of the Handmaids and Jezebels. Unfortunately, June
is discovered and captured by Gilead guards led by Nick, who was now a Commander. Nick was still
secretly working with the resistance, and had even secured Lawrence’s release after he was discovered
to be a part of June’s plan to smuggle Gilead children into Canada. June is tortured by Gilead
to reveal the location of the Handmaid safehouse, but June refuses until Lawrence warns her that
Hannah could be in danger. After betraying the other Handmaids, Esther is captured and made a
Handmaid, while June and many of her friends are sent to work in the Colonies. On the way,
the Handmaids stage an escape, but only June and Janine successfully get away and flee to Chicago.
Back in Boston, Aunt Lydia recovers from her wounds inflicted by Emily’s attack and wants
to resume her position over the Handmaids, but discovers that she’s been replaced by Aunt Ruth.
Lydia then goes to blackmail Lawrence, revealing that she was aware of his involvement in High
Commander Winslow’s murder and of the smuggling of Gilead children into Canada. Lawrence agrees to
restore Aunt Lydia to her position of power, and upon realizing she had just as much intel on the
other Gilead Commanders, offers an alliance with her to save the country. During a Council meeting,
Lawrence proposes a ceasefire of all attacks in Chicago in order to allow aid workers to help
the injured, which would in turn make Gilead look good to potential foreign
allies. The Council agrees, but not before ordering Nick to coordinate a bombing strike
in Chicago before the ceasefire went into effect. Nick is hesitant about the bombing,
as he had received word of two handmaids being spotted in Chicago and feared June’s safety.
Meanwhile, June and Janine join a group of American resistance soldiers in Chicago,
right as Gilead decides to drop aerial bombs on the city. Janine is recaptured and taken back
to Boston, but June is miraculously found amongst the rubble by her old friend, Moira. Although June
doesn’t want to leave without her daughter, Moira convinces her to join the relief workers on their
journey back to Canada. Moira’s team smuggle June across the border, leading to June finally being
reunited with her husband, Luke. Right away, the husband and wife begin their search for Hannah.
On Luke’s suggestion, June arranges for a meeting with Nick, bringing along their daughter Nichole
for him to meet. Nick gives June information on Hannah, who has now been moved to Colorado.
Also in Canada are the Waterfords, who are currently imprisoned and awaiting trial for
their various war crimes. Mark informs Serena that she is pregnant with a son. Serena tries to make
amends with the newly free June, but June refuses to accept her apology. June testifies against the
Waterfords, but feels betrayed when she discovers that Mark was considering dismissing the charges
against Fred in exchange for him revealing secrets of Gilead’s inner workings. Fred would be
allowed to flee to Geneva to live in peace. June convinces Mark to have a meeting with Lawrence,
who proposes trading Fred for twenty-two captured resistance women from Gilead. As Fred says goodbye
to Serena and prepares to leave for Geneva, he is instead arrested by Mark and traded
to Lawrence and Nick. The twenty-two women are saved, and Nick brings Fred to No Man’s Land,
where June, Emily, and the other former handmaids are waiting. The women give chase
to Fred before savagely beating him to death. Luke is shocked when June returns home covered
in blood, as is Serena when she is sent a letter containing Fred’s wedding ring and ring finger.