This paper reports a parametric study of rainfall–runoff relations for 38 storms in the Eaton basin, southeastern Quebec, between 1950 and 1966. In addition to storm rainfall amounts, water table levels in the vicinity of the channel network, as indicated by baseflow prior to storms, appear to be very important in controlling the amount of response of the basin in different storms. Storm runoff is viewed as the product of direct interception by, and subsurface seepage into, expanded surface water systems in the valley floor areas of the basin. This is in agreement with the variable (partial) source area model developed over the last ten years by a number of hydrologists as an alternative to the Horton theory of runoff production.