This is a story about a girl named Beatrice who lives with her father, mother, and brother,
Caleb, in a future society that is divided into five major factions: Dauntless, Amity,
Erudite, Abnegation, and Candor.
Beatrice’s parents are Abnegation, however, because Beatrice and Caleb are sixteen years
old, they must go through a test and pick what faction they want to be in.
Those with no faction become Factionless.
As Beatrice takes the faction test, she is put through a series of trials, which reveals
that she is not drawn to one faction, but three.
This is extremely rare and dangerous, which the society calls Divergent.
Still, Beatrice must choose her faction.
At the Choosing Ceremony, Caleb chooses Erudite and Beatrice chooses Dauntless, both choices
that are against the norm.
Beatrice is then led with the other Dauntless initiates and they must jump on a train to
Dauntless headquarters.
Once at the headquarters, a leader named Max tells them they must jump off a building.
Beatrice is the first to jump and lands in the hidden net.
As a Dauntless, her new identity and name is Tris.
The Dauntless-born initiates are separated from the non-Dauntless born initiates for
their training, ranking, and initiation.
Four is Tris’ trainer and he first teaches them to shoot a gun.
During the training, Tris becomes friends with her fellow trainees, including Al, Christina,
and Will.
She even gets a tattoo of birds in remembrance of her family.
The group of initiates are then trained in hand to hand combat.
Tris has to fight Peter, another initiate who is highly competitive, who dominates her
in the fight.
She eventually recovers from her injuries and continues the training.
The initiates are taken to the fence, where Dauntless guards patrol.
Four then has them play capture the flag with paintball guns.
As Tris’ team is fighting about what to do, Tris and Four climb an old ferris wheel
and spot the other team.
Tris relays the message and their team wins.
Visiting Day arrives where families, both Dauntless and not, visit the initiates.
Most non-Dauntless family visit, but Tris’ mother arrives.
They talk and Tris’ mother warns her to be careful.
Tris also realizes that her mother was born as a Dauntless.
After the first stage of initiation is complete, Tris is in the middle of the rankings; however,
during the night, the top ranked boy gets stabbed in the eye with a knife by Peter.
During the next phase of initiation, all of the initiates are given a serum that reveals
their fears and the instructors can watch.
In Tris’ tests, she often envisions her family.
However, Four notices how Tris handles the simulation and recognizes that she is Divergent.
He tells her that she has to keep it a secret.
After the second phase of initiation, Tris is ranked in first place, but she is kidnapped
and nearly thrown into the chasm by Peter and two others.
Four rescues her, but before the perpetrators escape, she recognizes Al as one of the kidnappers.
Al tries to apologize, but Tris doesn’t want to see him.
Confused and alone, Al jumps into the chasm and dies.
Tris decides to visit her brother, Caleb, and so she leaves and enters the city where
the Erudite live and train.
They see each other and Caleb tells her that something bad is going to happen to the Abnegation.
Meanwhile, Tris and Four become close and become romantically involved.
The final phase of initiation involves each initiate facing their fears in a virtual reality
simulation.
One night, Tris goes with Four into his virtual reality simulation of his fears and he reveals
his true identity, the son of a famous Abnegation leader.
His real name is Tobias.
The final day of initiation arrives with each initiate entering the simulation one at a
time.
Tris is last to enter the simulation.
She faces her fears, including drowning, crows, and killing her family, but is also presented
with a romantic scene with Tobias as intimacy scares her.
When her simulation is over, Tris quietly leaves and the Dauntless celebrate the new
initiates the following day, injecting each initiate with a special serum.
That night, Tris wakes up to find that every initiate is up and preparing for battle in
a sleepwalking state of mind.
She goes along with them even if she is fully aware of what is happening and everyone boards
a train.
Tris sees Tobias on the train and the two of them escape, as they are the only ones
not affected by the serum’s control.
Soon, the Dauntless begin shooting the Abnegation members in the city.
As Tobias and Tris try to escape, they are captured by Dauntless soldiers and brought
to Jeanine, leader of the Erudite.
She reveals her plan to take over the government and recognizes that both Tobias and Tris are
Divergent, which makes them immune to the serum.
Tobias is taken away to the control room, while Tris is left in a glass chamber to drown.
However, Tris’ mother rescues her.
As they escape, Tris’ mother reveals that she is also Divergent, but the Dauntless soldiers
kill her as Tris runs to where her father and brother are hiding.
After meeting up with her father, brother, and a few others, including Tobias’ father,
Tris leads some of them back to Dauntless headquarters to shut down the computer that
is controlling the Dauntless soldiers.
Tris and her father make it to the building, but her father is killed in action.
Tris makes it to the control room only to be confronted by Tobias.
He nearly shoots her, but quickly recognizes her and they shutdown the computer program.
In the end, Tris leads the group toward Amity headquarters as the Dauntless soldiers wake
up to what they’ve done.