《沙漠之花》讲述了华莉丝（莉亚•科贝德 Liya Kebede 饰）出生在索马里的沙漠和母亲过着游牧民族的生活。在三岁时，华莉丝按照索马里习俗就被施以女性割礼。十二岁时父亲为了得到五头骆驼，要将华莉丝嫁给六十岁的老叟。就在出嫁前夜，华莉丝在母亲的默许下，在沙漠中徒步很久投奔摩加迪沙的外祖母,也在外祖母那里获得了去给当时索马里驻英国大使夫人的姨妈作女佣的机会。到英国后不久，索马里爆发战争，旧政府被推翻，华莉丝趁乱再次出逃大使馆而流浪英国街头。华莉丝在街头邂逅了收留自己的玛丽莲（莎莉•霍金斯 Sally Hawkins 饰），跟着又在打工的餐厅里遇到伯乐，最终被发掘成为世界名模，并投身于妇女解放事业。
Wallis (Liya kebede) was born in the desert of Somalia and lived a nomadic life with her mother. At the age of three, Wallis was circumcised in accordance with Somali customs. At the age of 12, my father wanted to marry Wallis to a 60 year old man in order to get five camels. On the night before her marriage, with her mother's acquiescence, Wallis walked in the desert for a long time to go to Mogadishu's grandmother, who also got the chance to work as a maid for the aunt of the then Somali ambassador to the UK. Shortly after arriving in the UK, war broke out in Somalia, the old government was overthrown, and Wallis took advantage of the chaos to flee the embassy again and roamed the streets of Britain.
Wallis met Marilyn (Sally Hawkins) on the street, and then met Bole in the restaurant where she worked. Finally, she was discovered as a world famous model and devoted herself to the cause of women's liberation.
