Plot
Investigator Lemony Snicket documents the whereabouts of the Baudelaire children: 14-year-old inventor Violet, her 12-year-old bibliophile brother Klaus, and their mordacious infant sister Sunny, after they are orphaned when their parents die in a mysterious fire that has destroyed their entire home. Mr. Poe, the family banker, manages their affairs and leaves them in the care of Count Olaf, a nefarious stage actor intent upon obtaining their family fortune, which will remain in the custody of the bank until Violet turns eighteen.
The Baudelaires are severely mistreated by Olaf, who belittles them and forces them to do all his housework. After he legally obtains custody of the children, he attempts to kill them by locking them in his car, which he parks on railway tracks. The Baudelaires divert an oncoming train by building a device to remotely activate the railroad switch, after which Mr. Poe sees the children alone in the car and removes them from Olaf's custody, thinking Olaf was allowing them to drive while underage.
The orphans are taken to live with eccentric and kind herpetologist Dr. Montgomery "Uncle Monty" Montgomery, who plans on bringing the children with him on an expedition to Peru. When Uncle Monty's new assistant "Stephano" arrives, the Baudelaires immediately see that he is Count Olaf in disguise. They attempt to warn Uncle Monty, but he instead suspects Stephano is after his latest discovery, The Incredibly Deadly Viper.
The morning they are set to leave for Peru, Uncle Monty is found dead. He was seemingly attacked by the viper, though the children are certain that Olaf murdered him. They are almost placed in Stephano's care by Mr. Poe, but Sunny proves his guilt by showing that the snake is harmless, and Stephano escapes.
Mr. Poe takes the children to Lake Lachrymose to live with their Aunt Josephine, a grammar-obsessed widow with panphobia. Shortly after arriving, they encounter Count Olaf again, this time disguised as a sailor called "Captain Sham", with whom Aunt Josephine becomes immediately besotted. The Baudelaires later find Aunt Josephine missing from her house and an apparent suicide note entrusting them to Captain Sham.
Seeing grammatical errors in the note, Klaus deduces that Olaf forced Aunt Josephine to write it and the mistakes are clues to her real location. The children sail to the cave where Aunt Josephine has hidden herself and convince her to leave with them. However, they are attacked by deadly leeches; Olaf sails out to rescue the children, but leaves Aunt Josephine to be eaten.
When Mr. Poe witnesses Count Olaf seemingly rescue the Baudelaires, they are placed back in his care, despite the children's protests. Learning that, as their guardian, Olaf would not be entitled to any of their money, he stages a play titled "The Marvelous Marriage," in which he will have Violet play the bride and sign a real marriage certificate in front of a bona fide justice of the peace, which would give Olaf access to the fortune as a legally wedded spouse. Violet refuses to comply, but agrees when Olaf reveals that he has captured Sunny and threatens to kill her if the play is interrupted or she does not agree to marry him.
As the play is performed, Klaus goes to rescue Sunny from the hidden tower in Olaf's house. There he discovers a large window with a set of lenses that, if positioned correctly, can focus and alter the rays of the sun. Klaus realizes that Olaf used it to set fire to the Baudelaire mansion. Klaus then uses the window and lenses to burn the marriage certificate after Olaf tauntingly reveals his true intentions to everyone. Olaf is subsequently arrested and made to suffer every hardship that he forced upon the Baudelaires before subsequently disappearing.
Before leaving for their next home, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny visit the charred remains of their old family home one final time. A lost letter from their parents is finally delivered; inside is a spyglass announcing their family's secret society, V.F.D., of which Uncle Monty and Aunt Josephine were both members. Snicket concludes his documentation and leaves it in a clock tower for his publisher to find.
