The film follows Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire. Violet has a talent for inventing, Klaus has a talent for reading, and Sunny has a talent for biting. They become extremely unfortunate, unlucky and depressed children after their parents perish in a fire that destroys their entire home, going on to live lives full of sadness, stress, misfortune, misery, and woe. The Baudelaires are soon brought to their (claimed) third cousin four times removed, the treacherous actor Count Olaf. However, the Baudelaires soon discover that Olaf is an abusive adoptive father and is after their inherited fortune which Violet will obtain when she turns 18. In addition, Olaf claims that once he finds a way to obtain their fortune, he won't hesitate to kill all three of them.
