Klaus and Violet attempt to follow their sister, who is trapped by Count Olaf in a car driving fast up the mountain.

First they must stop the caravan they are travelling in hurtling over a cliff.

While Sunny is obliged to make breakfast for Count Olaf, his unpleasant associates and the repellent Esme Squalor, Klaus and Violet have come across Carmelita Spats in a cave, and, incredibly, Quigley, the last Quagmire triplet who is in fact alive.

Climbing up to the smouldering remains of the VFD headquarters, the Baudelaires find themselves at the bottom of a steep, icy slope, leading up to Count Olaf and Sunny.

Olaf has been joined by people even more evil than he is, and kidnaps Carmelita, while the Baudelaires escape along the Stricken Stream, hoping to meet the survivors of VFD at Hotel Denouement.