In 1935 in French North Africa, the tribesmen of the interior have been stirred to rebellion in a mighty jihad created by a foreign power. Lieutenant Crispin de Corville, a secret agent for the French Foreign Legion, discovers the plot, and must fight his way across the desert, disguised as one of the Arabs, to save the string of forts that's the only thing keeping the hordes at bay. With him are two American women travelers who've been swept up in the action. But Corville soon finds that the sands of the desert are indeed the "Sands of Destiny" Grand adventure in the Beau Geste tradition