The Sheltering Sky

Three Americans from New York—Port Moresby, his wife Kit, and their friend Tunner—arrive in Oran, French Algeria, in 1947, and set off on a long, dusty journey that will push them deep into the Sahara. From the start, Tunner notes that they may be among the first tourists the region has seen since the war, while Kit counters with a steadier view: we’re travelers, not tourists.

We’re probably the first tourists they’ve had since the war.

We’re not tourists. We’re travelers.

As their plans unfold, Port’s tense attempt to connect with Kit ends in disappointment and a moment of volatility. While wandering the city, Port runs into a pimp who introduces him to a Berber prostitute; what begins as a night of curiosity turns perilous when the encounter spirals into a theft attempt and a swift pursuit by a hostile crowd. The next morning, Kit tries to smooth things over by covering Port’s absence, brushing his bed sheets to imply he slept there, and when Port eventually reappears, a misunderstanding about the night’s events arises.

The trio soon crosses paths with Mrs. Lyle, a travel writer, and her son Eric, who join the party under a tense arrangement. The Lyles invite Port and Kit into their car for a ride toward Boucif, but they tell Tunner there is no room for him, forcing a split: Port takes the ride with the Lyles, while Kit and Tunner continue by train. That night dissolves into champagne and a blurred morning in Kit’s hotel room, leaving Port suspicious of Kit’s growing closeness with Tunner.

A calculated deception follows when Eric Lyle offers to help transport Tunner to Messad, under the pretext that Port and Kit will rendezvous later. Eric, however, also steals Port’s passport, planting new trouble on their already precarious path. In Boucif, Port discovers his passport is missing, and even after local officials promise to recover it in Messad, Port presses on toward El Ga’a by bus with Kit, hoping to outrun the looming confrontation. Along the way, Port contracts typhoid fever, and the hotel refuses to shelter them for fear of infection.

Kit knows she must act, and she carries Port to a French Foreign Legion outpost where a doctor should be, but none is available. Left to nurse him herself, Kit’s resolve hardens as Port’s condition deteriorates, and he dies beside her in their room. Grief gives way to a desperate, solitary flight as Kit abandons the body and walks into the Sahara.

Her journey takes an abrupt turn when she encounters Belqassim, a Tuareg caravan leader Belqassim. He and his caravan take Kit to his home in Niger, where she is disguised as a boy and confined in a guest house. Although the arrangement seems to offer shelter, Kit soon finds herself at odds with Belqassim’s wives, who order her to leave. Disoriented in the bustling marketplace, she falls prey to a mob and is ultimately found, mute and traumatized, in a Catholic mission hospital by staff from the American embassy, who have been prompted to search for her by Tunner, who has uncovered Port’s grave.

Transported back to Tangier, Kit learns that Tunner is waiting for her there. The pair finally reach the hotel together, only for Kit to flee once more into the crowded streets, driven by a mixture of shock, grief, and unresolved longing. Their shared voyage—frayed, uncertain, and shaped by a string of misunderstandings, betrayals, and life-or-death moments—leaves them to navigate a Sahara that tests every boundary of trust, loyalty, and endurance.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 14:54