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.
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.
Lost at sea, the Baudelaire orphans, along with the evil Count Olaf, wash up on the shore of an island populated by an oddly placid group of inhabitants, and they try to decide whether or not they are truly safe.
"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"--Provided by publisher.
Catastrophes and misfortune continue to plague the Baudelaire orphans after they are sent to live with fearful Aunt Josephine who offers little protection against Count Olaf's treachery.
"After narrowly escaping the menacing clutches of the dastardly Count Olaf, the three Baudelaire orphans are taken in by a kindly herpetologist with whom they live happily for an all-too-brief time"--Provided by publisher.
"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 lumbermill"--Provided by publisher.
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are wisked off to the village of V.F.D. where a council of elders have enacted thousands of rules about the thousands of crows that inhabit the town and are protected by handyman Hector against Count Olaf, who is after the children's fortune.
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.
The woeful saga of the Baudelaire orphans continues as evil Count Olaf discovers their whereabouts at Esme Gigi Geniveve Squalor's seventy-one bedroom penthouse and concocts a new plan for stealing their family fortune.
