The author opens the book by defining the difference between being nervous and anxious, adding that this is one of two books in existence that defines the difference between the two—the other being the dictionary. He explains that this book will make the reader feel anxious because of all the troubling situations the Baudelaire orphans get into, concluding that if the reader doesn’t want to feel this way, they should “drop this book right out of your two or more hands and curl up with a dictionary instead” (3).

Since they were orphaned by the fire that destroyed their home and killed their parents, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire have been in the care of Mr. Poe. Their caseworker has set them up with many possible families, but all placements have ended badly. Mr. Poe’s latest placement is with the Squalors, who live on Dark Street, so named because there are no streetlamps and the trees block all sunlight. The children are concerned Count Olaf, a man who wants to steal their family fortune, will find and capture them, like he did their friends, the Quagmire triplets. The triplets, Duncan and Isadora, whose third sibling has gone missing, left the Baudelaires with a single clue to take down Olaf: V.