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When his wealthy but estranged father dies, wheeler-dealer Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) thinks he will inherit a fortune until he learns that the $3-million estate was placed into a trust for an older autistic brother he didn't even know he had. In anger at his father, Charlie kidnaps Raymond (Dustin Hoffman) from the Wallbrook Institute and takes him on a cross-country trip in hopes of forcing Doctor Bruner (Gerald R. Molen) to give him half of the estate in return for bringing Raymond back to the hospital. Along the way, however, Charlie comes to remember, understand, and connect with his brother.

Rain Man is based on a story and screenplay written by American screenwriters Barry Morrow and Ronald Bass. The screenplay was subsequently novelized by Lenore Fleischer. Rain Man won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1989.

Charlie recalls an imaginary childhood friend he refers to as "the rain man", who would sing to him whenever he got scared. After sharing parts of their childhood, Charlie comes to realize that the imaginary Rain Man was actually Raymond, a play on his name.

Charlie and Raymond meet with Dr Bruner and a court-appointed psychiatrist Dr Marston (Barry Levinson) to evaluate Raymond's psychiatric state. Marston begins by asking Ray to tell him about his adventures the past week, but then presses him to decide for himself whether he wants to stay in Los Angeles with his brother or return to Wallbrook. Unable to distinguish these as two mutually exclusive questions, Ray becomes more and more agitated, so Charlie puts an end to the questioning and agrees that Ray needs to return to Wallbrook In the final scene, Charlie sees Ray and Dr Bruner off at the Amtrak station and promises Ray that he will visit in two weeks.

Charlie did not. During the meeting where Dr. Bruner offers Charlie $250,000 to walk away, Bruner makes it clear that Charlie's father placed the money in a trust for the care of Raymond and that the courts can't touch it.