Walks around soft eastern plains (7)
I believe the answer is:
steppes
'plains' is the definition.
(I know this)
'walks around soft eastern' is the wordplay.
'walks' becomes 'steps' (I've seen this in another clue).
'around' indicates putting letters inside.
'soft' becomes 'p' (musical abbreviation for 'piano', soft).
'eastern' becomes 'e'.
'p'+'e'='pe'
'steps' going around 'pe' is 'STEPPES'.
(Other definitions for steppes that I've seen before include "grassy areas" , "Eurasian grasslands" , "Russian treeless plains" , "Dry grassy plains of Russia" , "Great plains of Russia" .)