When Jamil El Shehab, a handsome, opportunistic Egyptian dragoman, spies Diana Standing, a beautiful half-English, half-Egyptian socialite, at the Cairo train station, he is determined to become her official guide and driver.  Using Diana's dog Missy as bait, Jamil maneuvers himself into the job over the objections of her pompous English fiancée, businessman Gerald Hume.  Then, as she dines and tours the Pyramids, Jamil tricks Gerald into leaving Diana and woos her with love songs and pretty flattery.

Also vying for Diana's attention is Pasha Achmed, Gerald's unscrupulous Egyptian business partner.  To be alone with Diana, Pasha arranges for Gerald to be sent on a phony mission to the aqueduct project he and Gerald are building in the desert.  Aware of Pasha's scheming, Jamil blackmails his countryman and uses his servant position to work his way into Diana's hotel bedroom.  After Jamil kisses her in a moment of bold passion, however, Diana dismisses him and starts on a caravan for Gerald.

During the journey through the desert, Jamil appears and forcefully replaces Diana's guide.  Once again, Diana falls under the spell of Jamil's romantic singing and finds herself in his arms.  Outraged by his embraces, Diana strikes Jamil with a whip and orders the caravan to return immediately to Cairo.  On the way back, however, Jamil sends Powers, Diana's chaperone, and the rest of the caravan on one route, while conniving to get Diana to Pasha's oasis retreat via another.

At the oasis, Diana receives royal treatment until Pasha, on word from Jamil that Diana went to his place deliberately, attacks her.  After Diana screams for Jamil to save her from Pasha, Jamil abducts her from his rival's house, and the two ride off into the desert.

The next day, Pasha's henchmen threaten to reclaim Diana but are killed by Jamil.  With only one horse between them, Jamil forces Diana to walk behind him as they continue their trek, then prevents her from drinking from a desert pond until both the horse and he have drunk.  Defeated by thirst, hunger and humiliation, Diana gives in to Jamil's forced advances that night and allows him to take her to his tribal village the next day.  There Jamil reveals that he is actually a sheik who chose to work as a dragoman as part of his royal training.  Although Diana passively agrees to become Jamil's wife, she tosses the ceremonial water in his face during the wedding and humiliates him in front of his father and his tribe.

Devastated by Diana's actions, Jamil allows her to return to Cairo, where she immediately proceeds with her marriage to Gerald.  Moments before she is to wed Gerald, however, Diana is visted by Jamil, now a fugitive from the Egyptian army.  When Jamil begins to sing his love song, Diana realizes that she truly loves him and abandons Gerald at the altar.  As they float down the Nile together, Diana confesses her parentage to Jamil, who tells her that he would love her even if her mother was Chinese.