The chapter ends with a definition of life. See if this agrees with they way you would define it. Many aspects of plant function depend on water. This chapter introduces some principles that are important throughout the chapters on water relations. On pages 27-31 some basic properties of water are discussed.
Water is a very special compound.
This section lists some of water's properties that play important roles in how a plant lives. Pages 31-37 get into a pretty heavy discussion of the kinetic theory and thermodynamics. You don't have to worry about all the mathematical details, but you should understand the basics of the 1st and 2nd laws of thermodynamics. In pages 37-40, the text defines the concept of water potential. This is really the most important part of the chapter.