Plot+Page

The story begins with Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire at Briny Beach. Then Mr. Poe arrives with some terrible news. He tells them that the Baudelaire mansion has been destroyed in a fire and that there parents died in the fire. The Baudelaire children are taken to their new guardian Count Olaf a distant relative. Count Olaf treats them horribly he forces them to do all his cleaning and cooking, and provides them with only one bed to sleep in. Count Olaf also refers to them as "orphans" instead of "children". Olaf's theater troupe is coming to his place, and he orders the orphans to prepare dinner for them all. However, the siblings do not have any ingredients, also Count Olaf left them only a little bit of money to buy the food ,but some how they managed. In search of help, they visit Olaf's very nice neighbor,Justice Strauss, who promptly invites them inside. After finding instructions in a cookbook, they buy the ingredients to make Pasta Puttanesca. When the troupe comes, Olaf is outraged that they did not make roast beef. However, when Klaus retorts to a comment by the Count, Olaf slaps him. The troupe comes in and applauds Olaf. The next day the children visit Mr. Poe at his bank in order to get help, and Mr. Poe explains to them that Olaf may be adjusting to the life of a dad. When the children return, Olaf tells them that Mr. Poe talked to him about their troubles, so Olaf forces the orphans to play in //"The Marvelous Marriage"// by the great playwright Al Funcoot (an anagram of "Count Olaf"). Olaf will play the groom, Violet will be the bride, Klaus will be cheering people in the audience, while Sunny is tied up and trapped in a cage as a warning to the orphans to not do anything stupid or Sunny will fall to her death. Klaus spends all night reading //Nuptial Law// in the hope of learning how they can foil Olaf's plans to get their fortune; he discovers that two people can be married if they sign a document and state their wedding vows in the presence of a legal judge. Olaf plans to marry Violet during the play, in order to gain control of the fortune, but when Klaus accuses him of this, Olaf only laughs. It is at this point that Violet and Klaus discover that Olaf is holding Sunny captive, in a birdcage suspended from the roof of his house. Count Olaf tells them that one of his henchmen had kidnapped Sunny while they were sleeping. He warns them that if they don't cooperate during the play, the cage will be released which would send Sunny to her death. That night, Violet invents a grappling hook to reach the top of the tower, but is met by The Hooked-handed man who brings up Klaus and makes them stay until the play. The night of the play, Violet signs the document with her left hand to invalidate the bill. Olaf is supposed to go to prison but escapes by having an associate turn off the lights to the theater; Violet makes her way to the controls. As she reaches for them, Olaf grabs her shoulder and tells her that he will be back for the fortune, and will kill them all; Olaf escapes. Justice Strauss tells the children that she will adopt them, But before the Bauelaire's parents died,they said that if anything bad happens to them their children will have to be raised by part of the family. They get in Mr. Poe's car and it drives away as Justice Strauss waves goodbye.