After six months sailing around the world with boyfriend, Jack Colton, romance novelist, Joan Wilder, is ready to return home. However, Jack wants to continue their adventure. On the French Riviera, Joan works on a new novel, and suffers writers block. Later, at a reception for her upcoming book, Joan is invited by Omar Khalifa to journey down the Nile and write a biography of the soon-to-be emperor. Omar wants to document the historic event that would unite rival African tribes and end bloody civil wars. Joan is flattered by the opportunity. Jack distrusts Omar, and suggests he and Joan go their separate ways. As Joan departs with Omar, a man named Tarak stabs him, but Omar, wearing a protective vest, is unharmed. Jack is confronted by his old nemesis, Ralph, who seeks revenge against Jack and Joan for thwarting his attempts to acquire a valuable gem, and having him locked in jail. As Ralph holds Jack at gunpoint, Tarak throws knives at Ralph, pinning him to a wall. Tarak then appeals for Jack’s help to retrieve a jewel Omar has stolen from Tarak’s people. Jack declines, and his sailboat explodes in the water behind him. Tarak blames Omar for the explosion, and warns that Joan is in danger. Ralph refuses to leave Jack’s side, and the three men fly to Africa. Upon landing, Tarak summons a caravan of camels to take them across the desert to Omar’s palace. Meanwhile, Omar and Joan are warmly welcomed to the palace, and Joan is given permission to explore the grounds. While taking photographs at a bazaar, gunfire explodes around her, and Joan learns of a “jewel” from writings on a wall. When she takes pictures of the writings, her film is confiscated by a gunman. Returning to the palace, Joan asks to leave, but Omar refuses to let her go, and ignores her questions about the jewel. Elsewhere, Jack and Ralph set up camp with Tarak’s colorful nomadic people. Later, Joan witnesses the arrival of a British illusionist and secretly photographs the activities. She overhears Omar’s scheme to fake a miraculous event and secure the loyalty of his people. While exploring, Joan falls through a rooftop and meets a man who introduces himself as “the Jewel.” The man explains that he is the true spiritual leader and rightful emperor, and reveals Omar’s plot to ravage North Africa. Omar enters, and Joan threatens to write the truth about him. However, he claims no one would believe a fantasy writer, and reveals that Jack is dead. Joan is locked in the room with the Jewel, distraught over Jack’s death, but determined to expose the truth about Omar. When Jack and Ralph arrive at the palace and ask to see Joan, they are turned away. Joan and the Jewel manage to escape along a rooftop, and she sees Jack on the street below. As she falls, Jack catches her, and she kisses him. Omar’s men shower them with gunfire, while Tarak and his people storm the village, inciting a battle. Jack, Joan, and the Jewel hide inside a jet, and Jack drives the aircraft through the village, shooting rockets. As tanks pursue them into the desert, they escape, driving through a sandstorm. Elsewhere, Tarak sees Jack and Joan fleeing with the Jewel, and assumes they are kidnapping the holy man. Tarak threatens Ralph, who he assumes is working with Jack. While walking through the desert toward the border, Jack and Joan begin to bicker, and he claims to have only come to the palace to retrieve the Jewel, and not to see her. Joan hides the Jewel’s identity from Jack, and says his name is “Joe.” As Omar’s men continue to pursue and shoot at them, Jack wonders what they are after. They escape over a mountain, and are met by a Nubian tribe. When the chief’s son takes an interest in Joan, Jack is forced to fight him for Joan’s hand. After Jack wins the fight, his love for Joan is renewed, and they are honored with a celebratory fertility ritual. Joan joins in the dancing, and Jack kisses her passionately, then carries her into a tent where they make love. The next day, they continue their journey across the mountains, and Joan confesses that the man is actually the “Jewel of the Nile,” and that the title refers to his status as a holy man. Jack is angry that Joan lied to him. They arrive in a town to board a train to Kadir, but gunmen search for them, and they jump on top of the train to escape. As Joan dangles from the side, Jack comes to her rescue. Meanwhile, Tarak and his cavalry, with Ralph in tow, follow the train on horseback. Joan, Jack and the Jewel enter a train car to find Omar waiting inside. Arriving in Kadir, Omar ties up Jack and Joan, and hangs them over a bottomless pit while rats gnaw at their ropes, mimicking a scene from one of Joan’s novels. Outside, an assembly has gathered where Omar will claim himself to be the new emperor and perform illusions to fool the crowd into believing he is their rightful ruler. As they face certain death, Jack and Joan declare their love for each other, and Jack proposes marriage. Ralph arrives but refuses to save them until they give him the Jewel, but does not believe the tied-up man who claims he is the Jewel. Ralph stumbles, knocking over a ladder, and inadvertently saves Jack and Joan. Outside, Tarak’s men fight Omar’s guards, while Jack and Joan sabotage Omar’s speech. A fire spreads onstage, and the Jewel walks through it, revealing that he is the true spiritual leader. Omar makes a final attack on Joan, but Jack rescues her. The couple shares a passionate kiss. Sometime later, Jack and Joan are married in the desert, and the Jewel performs the ceremony. + −