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.

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

The Baudelaire orphans attempt to reach an important VFD meeting, but first they must travel in an old submarine to the Gorgonian Grotto, a dangerous underwater cave, in search of a sugar bowl.

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny disguise themselves as cheerful hospital volunteers after they are falsely accused of murder in order to find clues concerning their parents' deaths and are pursued by Count Olaf who is after their fortune.

Accidents, evil plots, and general misfortune abound when, in their continuing search for a home, the Beaudelaire orphans are sent to live and work in a sinister lumber mill.

In this next-to-last chronicle of the lives of the Baudelaire orphans, the siblings pose as concierges at the Hotel Denouement to learn the identities and intentions of certain enemies, encountering characters from their past adventures and pondering the nature of nobility and villainy.