To elucidate how plants adapt to overheating followed by water deficiency, experiments with two cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) cultivars (Ok‐oltin and INEBR‐85) were performed. Preliminary heat‐shock (HS) treatment (45°C for 1.5 h) increased resistance of both cultivars to subsequent progressive soil drought [40 days without watering, with soil moisture gradually decreasing from 70 to 20% of field moisture capacity (FMC)]. HS induced accumulation of amino acids and amides and increased their contribution to the osmotic pressure (OP) of the leaf cell sap. HS also enhanced resistance to water deficiency and to overheating of the leaves, especially in cv. INEBR‐85, the more drought resistant of the two cultivars. The results suggest the existence of common resistance systems to both stress factors, in particular, accumulation of amino acids and amides (mainly arginine, proline and asparagine) – their concentration in the cell sap increased up to 240‐, 160‐ and 150‐fold, respectively.