Wallis (Leah Corbeid Liya Kebede) was born in the desert of Somalia and her mother lived a nomadic life. At the age of three, Wallis was circumcised in accordance with Somali custom. When he was twelve years old, his father wanted to marry Wallis to a sixty-year-old man in order to get five camels. On the eve of her marriage, Wallis, with her mother's acquiescence, walked for a long time in the desert to Mogadishu's grandmother, who also got the chance to work as a maid for the aunt of the then wife of the Somali ambassador to Britain. Shortly after arriving in Britain, war broke out in Somalia and the old government was overthrown. Wallis took advantage of the chaos to flee the embassy again and roamed the streets of Britain.Wallis meets Marilyn (Sally Hawkins Sally Hawkins) in the street, then meets Bole in the restaurant where she works, and is finally discovered to be a world famous model and devote herself to the cause of women's liberation.The film"Desert Flower" is based on the best-selling autobiography of Wallis Diri, a black model born in Somalia.

華莉絲（莉亞•科貝德 Liya Kebede 飾）出生在索馬利的沙漠和母親過著遊牧民族的生活。在三歲時，華莉絲按照索馬利習俗就被施以女性割禮。十二歲時父親為了得到五頭駱駝，要將華莉絲嫁給六十歲的老叟。就在出嫁前夜，華莉絲在母親的默許下，在沙漠中徒步很久投奔莫耳加迪休的外祖母,也在外祖母那裡獲得了去給當時索馬利駐英國大使夫人的姨媽作女傭的機會。到英國後不久，索馬利爆發戰爭，舊政府被推翻，華莉絲趁亂再次出逃大使館而流浪英國街頭。華莉絲在街頭邂逅了收留自己的瑪麗蓮（莎莉•霍金斯 Sally Hawkins 飾），跟著又在打工的餐廳裡遇到伯樂，最終被髮掘成為世界名模，並投身於婦女解放事業。電影《沙漠之花》是根據出生於索馬利的黑人模特華莉絲•迪裡的自傳暢銷書改編。