Embryogenesis in plants appears superficially to be a relatively simple process in terms of morphological development and it is the case that most organogenesis takes place in the post-embryonic phase of the life cycle. This apparent simplicity allows us to exploit embryogenesis as a model experimental system to study the relationship between gene expression and morphogenesis, which is arguably the most important question in developmental biology. However, we are only just beginning to describe changes in gene expression during embryogenesis and to identify regulatory networks. Recent work, exploiting transgenic techniques and the generation and characterization of mutants, points the way ahead in dissecting this developmental process at the molecular level.