Drought and flooding occur at opposite ends of the soil moisture spectrum yet resulting stress responses that occur in plants share many similarities. Drought limits root water uptake to which plants respond with stomatal closure and reduced leaf gas exchange. Flooding limits root metabolism due to soil anoxia, which also limits root water uptake and leaf gas exchange. As drought and flooding can occur consecutively in the same system and resulting plant stress responses share similar mechanisms, a single theoretical framework that integrates plant responses over a continuum of soil water conditions from drought to flooding is attractive. Based on a review of recent literature, we integrated the main plant eco-physiological mechanisms in a single theoretical model with a focus on plant water transport, plant oxygen dynamics, and leaf gas exchange. We used the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere-Continuum model as “backbone” for our theoretical framework development, and subsequently incorporated interactions between processes that regulate plant water and oxygen status, levels of abscisic acid and ethylene hormones and resulting acclimation strategies in response to drought, waterlogging, and complete submergence. Our theoretical framework provides a basis for the development of mathematical models to describe plant responses to the soil moisture continuum from drought to flooding.