After the sudden death of their parents, the three Baudelaire children must depend on each other and their wits when it turns out that the distant relative who is appointed their guardian is determined to use any means necessary to get their fortune. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are intelligent children. They are charming, and resourceful, and have pleasant facial features. Unfortunately, they are exceptionally unlucky. Imagine tales so terrible...

Dear Reader, I hope, for your sake, that you have not chosen to read this book because you are in the mood for a pleasant experience. If this is the case, I advise you to put this book down instantaneously, because of all the books describing the unhappy lives of the Baudelaire orphans, this one might be the unhappiest yet. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are sent to Paltryville to work in a lumbermill, and they find disaster and misfortune lurking...

In the perilous Mortmain mountains, Klaus and Violet Baudelaire meet another well-read person, who helps them try to rescue Sunny fron the vilainous Count Olaf and his his henchmen as they all near "the last safe place."

The woeful saga of the Baudelaire orphans continues as evil Count Olaf discovers their whereabouts at Esm�e Squalor's seventy-one bedroom penthouse and concocts a new plan for stealing their family fortune.

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny are taken to the Caligari Carnival where they disguise themselves as freaks while Count Olaf seeks the help of Madame Lulu to locate the children and find out the truth concerning their parents' death.