Fruits and vegetables contain vitamins, dietary fibre and phytochemicals, which promote human health. Specifically vitamins are major bioactive compounds, divided in water-soluble (vitamins B and C) and fat-soluble (vitamins A, D, E and K) ones, having strong antioxidant potential and limiting several diseases, including cancer and cardio-vascular diseases. Furthermore, vitamins  play a key role in plant protection against abiotic and biotic stress factors. Vitamin E is a group of eight fat-soluble compounds known as tocochromanols, which are synthesized exclusively by  photosynthetic organisms. Tocochromanols are categorised into two groups – tocopherols and tocotrienols. Each group contains four forms identified by prefixes α-, β-, γ- and δ-, yielding a  otal of eight forms. Vitamin E is an essential, lipid-soluble antioxidant in the human diet, protecting from cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neurological diseases. This review summarizes the recent developments in understanding the variety of roles of vitamin E as well as its major genetic regulatory pathways in plants. In addition, a comprehensive mapping of vitamin E occurrence is  presented in different plant tissues, organelles and horticultural crop species, as well as throughout different stages of fruit development and at postharvest.