The story begins with the three Baudelaire children, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny, being told by their parent’s banker, Mr Poe, that their parents have perished in a deadly fire. Mr Poe then assigns guardianship to the mysterious Count Olaf, an uncle that the children have never heard of nor met.
The Count is a cruel man who abuses the children and neglects them. He forces them to do all the chores in the house and he does not even provide the basic necessities to survive on. It soon becomes clear that Count Olaf is after the Baudelaire fortune that their parents left them.
The children soon learn that he plots to gain the fortune by marrying Violet, so he has legal rights over the fortune – but, the Count intends to rid himself of the Baudelaires soon after marriage. He plans on legally marrying Violet under the pretense on holding a play, where he will marry her. Count Olaf threatens to harm Sunny if Violet does not agree to perform in the play. However, Violet manages to outwit him by saying the marriage document is not legal as it was not written in her own hand, since she signed with her left hand when in fact, she is right-handed.
As he has revealed his intentions to steal the fortune to the audience, Count Olaf realizes that he has been thwarted. However, he manages to escape, vowing to get his hands on their fortune soon.
