An entire village acts as a guardian for the Baudelaire children. The children choose an adoption program called "V.F.D.," which stands for Village of Fowl Devotees. They live with the local handyman Hector, a chronic social rebel with a secret library and plans to escape the staunch community via his hot air mobile home.
Village members later report that Count Olaf has been captured. Ironically, it isn't the wicked villain this time around, but instead, a man named Jacques Snicket. The orphans try to help Jacques to no avail. He ends up dead because of the real Count Olaf, who's scheming with Esmé Squalor to trap the siblings. Hunted down by a mob, the Baudelaires find the Quagmires. Hector helps the Quagmires but fails to rescue the Baudelaire children. Isadora and Duncan throw down notebooks from Hector's hot air mobile home, which contain notes about the V.F.D.