Previous model studies have shown that the isotopic composition of tropospheric water vapor is sensitive to atmospheric water transport processes, but compositional information is difficult to interpret due to the complexity of the models. Here an attempt is made to clarify the sensitivity by computing the relationship between tropospheric HDO (via dD) and H2O (via specific humidity q) in an idealized model atmosphere based on a "last-saturation" framework that includes convection coupled to a steady large-scale circulation with prescribed horizontal mixing. Multiple physical representations of convection and mixing allow key structural as well as parametric uncertainties to be explored. This model has previously been shown to reproduce the essential aspects of the humidity distribution. Variations of dD or q individually are dominated by local dynamics, but their relationship is preserved advectively, thus revealing conditions in regions of convection. The model qualitatively agrees with satellite observations, and reproduces some parametric sensitivities seen in previous GCM experiments. Sensitivity to model assumptions is greatest in the upper troposphere, apparently because in-situ evaporation and condensation processes in convective regions are more dominant in the budget there. In general, vapor recycling analogous to that in continental interiors emerges as the crucial element in explaining why dD exceeds that predicted by a simple Rayleigh process; such recycling involves coexistent condensation sinks and convective moisture sources, induced respectively by (for example) waves and small-scale convective mixing. The relative humidity distribution is much less sensitive to such recycling. © 2012 American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.