After the three young Baudelaire siblings are left orphaned by a fire in their mansion, they are carted off to live with their distant relative, Count Olaf. Unfortunately, Olaf is a cruel, scheming man only after the inheritance that the eldest Baudelaire Violet is set to receive. The children escape and find shelter with their quirky Uncle Monty and subseqently, their phobic Aunt Josephine, but Olaf is never far behind.