[1][2] In the first half of the nineteenth century the young Leila left Paris, where she was educated, to go to Cairo to collect the inheritance of her late grandfather, a rich Egyptian pasha.

Cousin Ibrahim, who administers the land properties in a dishonest manner with the complicity of his trusted Yusuf, gives the banker Micropulos the research rights in sapphire deposits located in the territory of the Beni Amer Bedouins, making them and Leila believe that they are drilling artesian wells, thus obtaining the approval of Rachid, the young sheikh of the Beni Amer.

He, who went to Cairo to renew the pact that allows his people to live on the lands granted them, meets Leila and falls in love with her.

Ibrahim, fearing to be discovered, joins Leila in the fortress where he takes refuge, forcing her to marry him in order to inherit his possessions and prevent her from accusing him of the attempted murder.

Pretending to be mentally ill following the accident, Rachid is led by Yusuf to the location where the wedding is about to take place, exposed as a mockery.