The Baudelaires escape the village and follow a van of "Volunteers Fighting Diseases." The volunteers, who work to boost patient morale, suggest that the orphans find a library of records to decrypt the V.F.D.
The children eventually get access to keys from an elderly man who works at the library of records. Esmé chases them out of the library and takes Violet in for a craniectomy. After rescuing Violet, the siblings sneak into Olaf's trunk and eavesdrop on him talking about the Snicket files and the V.F.D.