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Eleanor Gist and Robert Conness play a couple whose marriage is in trouble. The wife, Ruth, has a spendthrift brother (Jack Sherrill) who commits suicide after a particularly hefty loss at cards. Since Ruth's husband, Neil, was in on the game, she blames him for her brother's death. She leaves Neil and takes her six-year-old daughter (Marion Adams) to London, intending to live on her sizable fortune. What Ruth doesn't know is that her dead brother squandered all the money. The kindly Neil makes secret arrangements so that Ruth receives the same amount of money she believes she would be getting from her estate. This ruse continues for over a decade, during which Neil leads a profligate bachelorhood and the daughter, Cynthia (now played by Dorothy Bernard), has grown into a lovely young woman. Ruth and Cynthia come back to the States so that Ruth can take her fortune and invest it abroad. While visiting her father, Cynthia becomes involved with a friend of his, Hollins (Jack Hopkins). Ruth, feeling dubious about Hollins' character (or lack of it), whisks Cynthia off. However, she also discovers the truth about her money, and that her ex-husband has been paying her way all along. Thus, Ruth and Neil are reunited, while Cynthia becomes engaged to someone more suitable. The Rainbow, like many other films of the day, was previously a play. A.E. Thomas was the playwright, and it brought stardom to Ruth Chatterton, who was the female lead on Broadway.