Miryam, the adopted daughter of the tribal chief Jamet, meets Marco Palmi, an Italian scientist in Libya for research, in the desert. Their first approach is not cordial and when Mario falls prisoner to the marauders she offers to guard him so she can humiliate him. However, over time she falls in love with the young Italian and becomes pregnant by him. Ibrahim, a bandit who desires the girl, arranges for Mario to be abandoned in the desert and tells Miryam that he died trying to escape. But Mario was saved by another tribe and is cared for by Ulema, a friend of Miryam. Ibrahim tries to harm the two lovers again, but Jamet intervenes and kills the bandit, submits to Italian power and allows the couple to leave for Italy together with their recently born son, called Italo.