 Young French officer Augustin Robert escorts artist Jean-Michel Venture de Paradis to Egypt during Napoleon s Egyptian campaign. Napoleon sent de Paradis to record Egypt s great monuments and temples that are destroyed by French soldiers in acts of barbarism. During combat, Augustin and Jean-Michel are separated from their regiment, and they start wandering through the desert fighting for their life. In one of the canyons Augustin meets a leopard he names Simoom and a strange bond between them appears.