Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) is a handsome, smooth-talking, narcissistic foreign car dealer in Los Angeles. When he learns that his father has died in Cincinnati, he leaves with his girlfriend (Valeria Golino) to attend the funeral. His anger at being cut out of the will rises to rage when he learns that the family's three million dollar estate has been left to Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), his older brother. He is an autistic savant who has been institutionalized for over 20 years. Desperate to get his hands on part of the inheritance, Charlie abducts Raymond. On their car trip back to California, more family secrets are revealed.

The Oscar-winning screenplay for Rain Man by Ronald Bass and Barry Morrow opens up Raymond's world as an autistic savant. He depends upon rituals to ward off anxieties about the world. Although he is limited by an inability to emotionally connect with people, Raymond possesses a photographic memory and a genius for mathematics.

Barry Levinson (Avalon; Good Morning, Vietnam; Liberty Heights) is a masterful director whose forte is capturing and conveying genuine human touches in relationships that grow slowly; his work here earned him an Academy Award, and the film took home the Best Picture Oscar. Dustin Hoffman turns in an Academy Award-winning performance as Raymond, and Tom Cruise gives a rounded and convincing performance as Charlie.

Theologian Samuel H. Miller has written: "In the muddled mess of this world, in the confusion and the boredom, we ought to be able to spot something — an event, a person, a memory, an act, a turning of the soul, the flash of bright wings, the surprise of sweet compassion. Don't miss Rain Man. You'll spot many glories to celebrate in this unusual film.