Four oil company employees crash-land in the desert of North Africa. They have limited food and water, no radio, no way to repair the plane and, with no hope of rescue, face a slow death. Then one of the crew spots the antenna of a German tank from World War II sprouting from the sands. Digging down, they discover the ‘Steel Lady’ of the title, complete with mummified crew, lost in the dunes ten years before, out of water, fuel, and supplies, rather like themselves.