Urged by Eileen Ford to audition for acting roles, Raines was subsequently cast as a lead in the independent horror film Hex (1973), opposite Keith Carradine and Scott Glenn.

She had a minor part in the Charles Bronson thriller The Stone Killer, followed by a lead in the television film Sunshine, in which she played a young mother with terminal cancer.

Raines also co-starred in Ridley Scott's directorial debut, The Duellists (1977), a period piece based on the Napoleonic Wars.

Raines had her first major television role in the twelve-part miniseries Centennial (1978), playing the daughter of a fur trapper in 1800s Colorado.

[8] The company's executive, Eileen Ford, felt that Raines had the potential to be an actress, and urged her to attend local auditions.

[9] Raines was reluctant but eventually acquiesced to Ford's pressure, auditioning for a lead role in the period piece horror film Hex (1973), opposite Keith Carradine and Gary Busey.

[15] She subsequently had a supporting part as a folk singer in Robert Altman's ensemble comedy Nashville (1975) (opposite Keith Carradine).

[6] She reunited with director Michael Winner to appear in his supernatural horror film The Sentinel (1977), followed by a lead role in Ridley Scott's directorial debut The Duellists (also 1977), in which she co-starred with Carradine, and which focused on soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars.

In 1979, Raines and Carradine separated, and she went on to star in the British motor-racing film Silver Dream Racer (1980) opposite Beau Bridges, and the drama Touched by Love (also 1980), co-starring with Diane Lane.

[16] Raines later appeared as a woman pursued by a killer in the anthology film Nightmares (1983) for Universal, originally slated to be a television series.