Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire were enjoying a day at Briny Beach. Mr. Poe, a banker and friend of the family, went to the beach to them that their parents had died in a fire which also destroyed their home. Mr. Poe is the executor of the Baudelaire fortune. It is his responsibility to put the children with a guardian and take care of their money until Violet turns eighteen (the legal age to handle money).