Set in a pastoral version of England, the film focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters (Moley, Ratty, Mr. Toad, and Mr. Badger) and contains themes of mysticism, adventure, morality, and camaraderie.

The screenplay was written by Romeo Muller, a long-time Rankin/Bass writer whose work included Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Frosty the Snowman (1969), The Hobbit (1977), and The Flight of Dragons (1982), among others.

[2] In this version, the horse pulling the barge is the same horse who pulls Mr. Toad's caravan, Portly is Badger's nephew, and The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Wayfarer's All chapters are included, although the events of Wayfarer's All occurs before the events of The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and Ratty actually leaves the Riverbank, only to be found later by Mole (alongside Portly).

Rankin/Bass had previously produced a television show with the Wind in the Willows characters in 1970, The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad Show,[3] with the voices of Canadian actors Paul Soles, Donna Miller, Claude Rae and Carl Banas, the production artwork of Paul Coker, Jr., and the animation of Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production in Tokyo, Japan.

On their way downriver to Toad Hall, they pass Badger (voice of José Ferrer), who is tending his land on the riverbank.

Not one to take no for an answer, Toad invites them to come along on his first trip, but Moley and Ratty find that he has planned the journey with complete disregard to packing food and drink ("We Don't Have Any Paté de Foie Gras").

Badger hears of Toad's automotive antics (crashing through a window and upsetting a banquet table, crashing into a moving train, destroying a barn, a wheel's coming loose on a makeshift car, driving up an apple tree, and careening off a drawbridge and into the river) from Ratty and Moley and resolves to do something about it come spring.

When Toad still refuses to listen to reason after a quite intense confrontation with an accompanying thunderstorm, Badger orders him locked in his bedroom until he comes to his senses.

Later, when sitting by a fireplace before Badger, Moley, and Ratty, Toad declares his plans to make restitution to all he wronged as well as adopt a new credo of friendship and charity, assuring his friends he has indeed repented.

During the ending credits, Toad, Rat, Mole and Badger are seen befriending the weasels, stoats and ferrets who, in turn, have repented of their old ways.