It is 1928, and a renowned Paris jeweler named Claude Debrosse has gone to North Africa in search of a rare yellow glass. He has disappeared, and Parker "Camel" Hicks has been asked to advise his daughter about the wisdom of going to North Africa to find him. But headstrong and spoiled, the girl is determined to go and stumbles into a world she knows nothing about. She is kidnapped and rescued by Hicks, but the story does not end there. Hicks learns that her father may be alive and that rare red sapphires may be involved in his disappearance. It is a story with many twists and turns toward an uncertain end.