- Things are not so great at Mr. Poe's house. Not only do the children miss their parents and their home, they're not having much luck sharing a room with Mr. Poe's bratty sons, Edgar and Albert.
- One night at dinner, Mr. Poe announces that Violet, Klaus, and Sunny will be adopted by a distant relative—some guy named Count Olaf—who lives in the city.
- The Baudelaires are a bit surprised. They've never heard of this Count Olaf before. Why wouldn't their parents have invited him over for dinner or something?
- Mr. Poe explains this is probably because he's very busy. After all, he's an actor and he travels all around the world with his theater troupe.
- The children are pretty nervous, but the next morning they go to meet Count Olaf.
- When they see the beautiful house and meet the lady that lives there, Justice Strauss, the children start to feel all right again.
- That is, until they realize that house belongs to Count Olaf's next-door neighbor.
- The house they're going to be living in is so dirty it's practically falling down—and it has a drawing of an eye carved into the front door. Yikes.
- Count Olaf doesn't look much better than his house. He has a wheezy voice, stains on his clothes, and one long eyebrow instead of two.
- Mr. Poe mentions how gloomy the house seems and Count Olaf suggests that he could spruce things up… if he could get his hands on some of the Baudelaire money.
- But Mr. Poe smacks that idea down right away; none of that money can be used until Violet comes of age.
- The children can tell that Count Olaf is angry, but after a minute he recovers.
- As Mr. Poe leaves, the Baudelaire children are feeling pretty terrible. They also notice that Count Olaf has a tattoo of an eye on his ankle—just like the one on the front door.
- Seriously. Is this guy creepy or what?