This novel talks about a dystopian future set in the Republic of Gilead. It starts with a terrorist attack that is staged, blamed on terrorists, that kills many people (including the President and a lot of the Congress). A movement named "Sons of Jacob" begins a revolution that takes away all of women's rights, mostlyto the financial records stored electronically that are labeled by gender. This new movement quickly reorganises into an Old-Testament inspired regime that hugely demotes women and even takes away their right to read.

This book is in the first-person perspective of a women named Offre (pronounced Of-Fred). She is part of a class of people kept as handmaids for reproductive reasons by the ruling class since she lives during a time where the birth rate is declining because of pollution and diseases. She talks about her third time as a handmaid, this time to a man named Fred, who is also known as "The Commander". Through flashbacks, the reader can see her past, and how she tried to escape to Canada with her family without sucess, how she was forced to be a handmaid. 

Fred/The Commander is a very high-ranking official. He is only supposed to go to bed with Offred during a time called "The Ceremony" (a ritual in which his wife has to be there) he starts to have an illegal relationship with Offred, exposing to both her and the reader to many ascpects of the society, like magazines and such. He takes her to a secret brothel that is made and controlled by the goverment and meets wth her often, teaching her how to read. The wife of Fred, named Serena Joy, also has some secret relationship with Offred, arranging for her to go to bed secretly with her driver Nick in an attempt to make her pregnant. In exchange for cooperation, Offred recieves news of her daughter, whom she had not seen since their failed attempt to escape from Canada.

After the first meeting, they start to meet more and more. She finds herself enjoying going to bed with Nick even though she still remembers her husband, and she even talks of the past. Through another handmaid named Ofglen, the Mayday resistance is revealed to her and the reader, an underground movement made to overthrow Gilead. Shortly after Ofglen's dissapearence, Serena discovers the secret relationship with Fred and Offred. The book continueswith Offred being taken by the secret police, aka the Eyes of God, or The Eyes. Before she is taken Nick informs her thatds these men are part of the Mayday resistance and that Offred must trust him. she is not sure whether or not to trust him, and she is left with uncertainity.

The book ends with an epilogue that explains what happened before the Gilead Period, giving the reader a clearer view of what happened. A professor discovers Offred's story recorded through tapes and calls it "The Handmaiden's tale".