The audience was made up of Soviet cultural officials who gave the work a poor reception.
This was a great disappointment to the composer who had intended the opera to rehabilitate his reputation with the Communist authorities after he had been accused of "formalism" earlier in the year.
As a result, performances of The Story of a Real Man were forbidden to the general public until after Prokofiev's death.
He is rescued and cared for by villagers from a collective farm before being transferred to a hospital, where both his legs are amputated.
He is inspired by the thought of his girlfriend and the support of his fellow patients, one of whom tells him the story of a First World War ace who continued to fly after losing one of his legs.