After the death of her invalid father, unhappy kind-hearted wealthy socialite Domini Enfilden (Marlene Dietrich) returns to Le Couvent de Ste. Cecile. That’s the European convent where she went to school as a child. Domini seeks the counsel of the Mother Superior, who tells the single woman she should go to the desert and the solitude will help her find herself. The obedient Domini goes to Algeria and dwells in a town on the edge of the Sahara Desert. Meanwhile, Boris Androvsky (Charles Boyer) after taking his final vows at the Trappist monastery at el Lagarnine in Tunis in Northern Africa, famous for its homemade liqueur, goes AWOL. He encounters Domini and they fall in love and marry. But she doesn’t know he took the Trappist monk vows. The secret gets challenged when he’s recognized by a traveler, De Trevignac (Alan Marshal), whose brother is a Trappist monk. Boris breaks down and tells his lady his life story. Realizing that she can’t mess with the church and God, and that Boris has the itch to return to the fold, Domini releases him from their marriage vows and he returns to the monastery with a renewed dedication to serve. She takes it like a good sport, though she has a good cry and gives off with lots of heavy breathing and deep sighs.

Basil Rathbone and C. Aubrey Smith have supporting roles as key religious figures. Joseph Schildkraut makes for a lively tour guide to the Arabian dancers; and John Carradine is foreboding as the sand diviner.