This review covers some important issues in the area of soil-plant-water relationships as specifically applied to deciduous fruit trees. Soil water availability and its modern methods of measurement are discussed and control of soil water briefly covered. The transport of water through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum is examined with some details on the components of the pathway and important factors affecting the transport. The development of water deficit, its measurement, and recovery from it is considered. Important aspects of plant responses, including fruit quality, to water deficit is reviewed and horticultural implications discussed. Deciduous fruit trees are likely to experience periods of water stress. Their acclimation to water deficit is therefore addressed. Deficit irrigation is one of the modern management techniques in deciduous orchards. The physiological basis of deficit irrigation is therefore briefly covered. This review relies on more than 200 references mostly published in international refereed journals which are accessible to readers for further reading.