At the beginning of the film, three medical students are hunting for a body to use for research purposes. They hear of a tramp that has been found dead. The body is in the mortuary and as no-one seems to know who he is; they decide to take the body for dissection without formal permission. When the body is placed on the operating table, one of the students recognizes the man, and scenes from his acquaintance with the dead man flash back. At the same time certain things begin to happen that they had not allowed for.

The actress is to produce a play with the local amateur group and old romantic flames are rekindled. At the same time an American army unit is making experiments with a new and powerful energy source in the vicinity, promising the community a prosperous future.

Various events of importance to the nation and to individual persons during the cold war and from about 1960 emerge as fragments of the memory of a little boy learning about life, about divorce, military occupation, the Beatles, little girls and death.

Rainbow’s End tells the story of inter-generational family conflict. Is a haunting work that remains as affecting and original today as when it was first released.