BookWinston Smith lives in Oceania, ruled by the Party and its face, Big Brother. There are telescreens in every room, and thinking the wrong thing is a crime called thoughtcrime.
Show the full plot (spoilers)
Winston works at the Ministry of Truth rewriting history: when the Party makes a mistake, he edits the old newspapers so it never happened. He secretly hates Big Brother, so he does the most rebellious thing he can and starts a diary.
A coworker, Julia, slips him a note that says she loves him, which is also illegal. They start a secret affair in a room above an old junk shop with no telescreen. They trust O'Brien, a top Party official who claims to be part of the resistance.
He isn't. The friendly shop owner is Thought Police, and a telescreen was hidden behind a picture the whole time.
How it ends
In the Ministry of Love, O'Brien breaks Winston until he truly believes two plus two equals five. In Room 101 he faces his worst fear, rats, and screams for them to do it to Julia instead. Released and broken, he meets Julia again and they feel nothing. In the last line of the book, he loves Big Brother.
