diff --git a/packages/plugin-nested-docs/src/hooks/resaveChildren.ts b/packages/plugin-nested-docs/src/hooks/resaveChildren.ts
index fc007f65e94..ac45ec5027d 100644
--- a/packages/plugin-nested-docs/src/hooks/resaveChildren.ts
+++ b/packages/plugin-nested-docs/src/hooks/resaveChildren.ts
@@ -97,6 +97,16 @@ export const resaveChildren =
             400,
           )
         }
+
+        // Anything else has to propagate too. A failed child update has already
+        // killed the transaction the whole cascade shares, so swallowing here
+        // does not salvage the parent write — it only stops the caller from
+        // being told the write was discarded. Two ways to land in this branch:
+        // a non-validation failure (a database error), and a cascade deeper
+        // than one level, where the throw above has already turned the
+        // grandchild's ValidationError into an APIError that the next
+        // ancestor's `instanceof` check no longer recognises.
+        throw err
       }
     }
 
diff --git a/test/plugin-nested-docs/collections/Pages.ts b/test/plugin-nested-docs/collections/Pages.ts
index f5ca5847726..39613312949 100644
--- a/test/plugin-nested-docs/collections/Pages.ts
+++ b/test/plugin-nested-docs/collections/Pages.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,17 @@
-import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'
+import type { CollectionConfig, PayloadRequest } from 'payload'
 
 import { populateFullTitle } from './populateFullTitle.js'
 
+type Simulation = {
+  /** Make the child re-save throw something that is not a `ValidationError`. */
+  infraFailure?: boolean
+  /** Make the child re-save throw a `ValidationError`. */
+  staleReference?: boolean
+}
+
+const getSimulation = (req: PayloadRequest): Simulation =>
+  (req?.context?.simulate as Simulation) || {}
+
 export const Pages: CollectionConfig = {
   slug: 'pages',
   labels: {
@@ -19,6 +29,20 @@ export const Pages: CollectionConfig = {
   access: {
     read: () => true,
   },
+  hooks: {
+    beforeChange: [
+      ({ data, req }) => {
+        // Stands in for a non-validation failure during the re-save — the
+        // reporter names a database error. Anything of this shape is swallowed
+        // by the plugin's catch even one level deep.
+        if (data?.breaksOnResave && getSimulation(req).infraFailure) {
+          throw new Error('Simulated database failure while re-saving a child.')
+        }
+
+        return data
+      },
+    ],
+  },
   fields: [
     {
       name: 'title',
@@ -32,6 +56,21 @@ export const Pages: CollectionConfig = {
       type: 'text',
       required: true,
     },
+    {
+      // Marks a document that should fail when the plugin re-saves it. Both
+      // failure modes are gated on request context as well, so they fire only
+      // for the one cascade a test drives and leave the rest of the suite alone.
+      name: 'breaksOnResave',
+      type: 'checkbox',
+      admin: {
+        hidden: true,
+      },
+      // Stands in for the reported cause: a document that is valid as stored and
+      // only fails when something re-validates it later — there, a required
+      // upload field whose media document had since been deleted.
+      validate: (value, { req }) =>
+        value && getSimulation(req).staleReference ? 'This field is invalid.' : true,
+    },
     {
       name: 'fullTitle',
       type: 'text',
diff --git a/test/plugin-nested-docs/int.spec.ts b/test/plugin-nested-docs/int.spec.ts
index 3d7661eb224..a54049b510b 100644
--- a/test/plugin-nested-docs/int.spec.ts
+++ b/test/plugin-nested-docs/int.spec.ts
@@ -497,4 +497,75 @@ describe('@payloadcms/plugin-nested-docs', () => {
       expect(grandchild.categorization[2].label).toStrictEqual('grandchild')
     })
   })
+
+  describe('error propagation', () => {
+    const createPage = async (data: Record<string, unknown>) =>
+      payload.create({
+        collection: 'pages',
+        data: { _status: 'published', ...data } as Page,
+      })
+
+    it('should surface a validation error raised two levels down the cascade', async () => {
+      const grandparent = await createPage({ title: 'Cascade A', slug: 'cascade-a' })
+      const parent = await createPage({
+        title: 'Cascade B',
+        slug: 'cascade-b',
+        parent: grandparent.id,
+      })
+      await createPage({
+        title: 'Cascade C',
+        slug: 'cascade-c',
+        breaksOnResave: true,
+        parent: parent.id,
+      })
+
+      // Updating A re-saves B, and B's own resaveChildren re-saves C. C's
+      // ValidationError is converted to an APIError one level down, so A's
+      // catch no longer recognises it and lets it go — while the failed update
+      // has already killed the transaction the three of them share.
+      await expect(
+        payload.update({
+          id: grandparent.id,
+          collection: 'pages',
+          context: { simulate: { staleReference: true } },
+          data: { title: 'Cascade A Updated', _status: 'published' },
+        }),
+      ).rejects.toThrow()
+
+      // What the caller was told and what the database holds now agree.
+      const stored = await payload.findByID({
+        id: grandparent.id,
+        collection: 'pages',
+        draft: false,
+      })
+
+      expect(stored.title).toBe('Cascade A')
+    })
+
+    it('should surface a non-validation error raised during a child re-save', async () => {
+      const parent = await createPage({ title: 'Infra A', slug: 'infra-a' })
+      await createPage({
+        title: 'Infra B',
+        slug: 'infra-b',
+        breaksOnResave: true,
+        parent: parent.id,
+      })
+
+      // This one needs no cascade depth at all: the catch only ever rethrows
+      // ValidationErrors, so a database error during the child re-save is
+      // swallowed on the first level.
+      await expect(
+        payload.update({
+          id: parent.id,
+          collection: 'pages',
+          context: { simulate: { infraFailure: true } },
+          data: { title: 'Infra A Updated', _status: 'published' },
+        }),
+      ).rejects.toThrow()
+
+      const stored = await payload.findByID({ id: parent.id, collection: 'pages', draft: false })
+
+      expect(stored.title).toBe('Infra A')
+    })
+  })
 })
diff --git a/test/plugin-nested-docs/payload-types.ts b/test/plugin-nested-docs/payload-types.ts
index 7dfbffb38c7..d051d1d6711 100644
--- a/test/plugin-nested-docs/payload-types.ts
+++ b/test/plugin-nested-docs/payload-types.ts
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ export interface Page {
   id: string;
   title: string;
   slug: string;
+  breaksOnResave?: boolean | null;
   fullTitle?: string | null;
   parent?: (string | null) | Page;
   breadcrumbs?:
@@ -277,6 +278,7 @@ export interface PayloadMigration {
 export interface PagesSelect<T extends boolean = true> {
   title?: T;
   slug?: T;
+  breaksOnResave?: T;
   fullTitle?: T;
   parent?: T;
   breadcrumbs?: