An ensemble cast of characters, each with their own history, connect at Egypt's Dakhla Oasis in a clash of old and new cultures, love, friendship, and betrayal.
When Oxford anthropologist, Pen, meets Danica Watson, an American paleontologist, he is smitten-by her beauty, her intelligence, and her uncompromising intelligence.

But the sands of the desert are not the only things shifting. When Danica's funding is threatened, her employers send an accountant to make sure she is worth their investment.
Byron, a New Yorker in the last place on earth he would ever want to find himself, is a lusty man. He may have tried to model himself on his namesake, Lord Byron, but lacks the romance of a poet. He sets his sights on Ib, Danica's gentle-natured assistant. Lurking in the shadows is Shani, an Egyptian feminist who has paid a high price for her fight for civil rights. Naïve but determined, Shani sets off on a violent and dangerous path that impacts everyone's lives.