Deoxygenated blood flows from the vena cava into the right atrium, through the tricuspid valve into the right ventricle. When the ventricles contract blood is forced through the pulmonary valve into the pulmonary artery, which it travels through to the lungs.In the lungs, the blood picks up oxygen and then travels through the pulmonary vein back to the heart. Oxygenated blood enters the heart from the pulmonary vein into the left atrium, flows through the mitral valve to the left ventricle and is pumped out through the aortic valve into the aorta, which takes oxygenated blood around the body.