The narrator tells a Russian folk tale, which the orchestra illustrates by using different instruments to play a "theme" that represents each character in the story.

However, Prokofiev was dissatisfied with the rhyming text produced by Nina Sakonskaya [ru] (real name Antonia Pavlovna Sokolovskaya, 1896–1951), a then-popular children's author.

As well as promoting desired Pioneer virtues such as vigilance, bravery, and resourcefulness, the plot illustrates Soviet themes such as the stubbornness of the un-Bolshevik older generation (the grandfather) and the triumph of Man (Peter) taming Nature (the wolf).

One day, Peter goes out into the clearing, leaving the garden gate open, and a duck that lives in the yard takes the opportunity to swim in a pond nearby.

When Peter shows defiance, believing he has nothing to fear from wolves, his grandfather takes him back into the house and locks the gate.

The cat quickly climbs into the tree with the bird, but the duck, who has jumped out of the pond, is chased, overtaken, and swallowed by the beast.

Hunters who have been tracking the wolf come out of the forest with their guns readied, but Peter gets them to instead help him take it to a zoo in a victory parade (the piece was first performed for an audience of Young Pioneers during May Day celebrations) that includes himself, the bird, the hunters leading the wolf, the cat, and lastly his grumbling Grandfather, still disappointed that Peter ignored his warnings, but proud that his grandson caught the beast.

[8]Peter and the Wolf is scored for an orchestra:[9] Each character in the story has a particular instrument and musical theme:[10] A performance lasts about 25 minutes.

[11] Jeremy Nicholas wrote for classical music magazine Gramophone in 2015, claiming that the best overall recording of Peter and the Wolf was by the New Philharmonia Orchestra, narrated by Richard Baker and conducted by Raymond Leppard in 1971.

Gramophone's best DVD version is the 2006 film by Suzie Templeton; its music is performed, without narrator, by the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Mark Stephenson.

Peter and the Wolf was frequently cited by the parties and amici, as well as by the Court's opinion and by the press, as an example of a well-known work that would be removed from the public domain by the decision.