The novel begins with a cover sheet indicating a recipient named "Walleye", CCed to the V.F.D. headquarters.
The novel starts in the Hemlock Tearoom and Stationery Shop, where a thirteen-year-old Lemony Snicket escapes his current chaperones, who are masquerading as his parents, to apprentice under S. Theodora Markson, the 52nd ranked V.F.D. member on a list of 52.