diff --git a/src/packages/strip-trailing-whitespace/spec/strip-trailing-whitespace-spec.coffee b/src/packages/strip-trailing-whitespace/spec/strip-trailing-whitespace-spec.coffee
index d55f2c1bd..9b5f7a304 100644
--- a/src/packages/strip-trailing-whitespace/spec/strip-trailing-whitespace-spec.coffee
+++ b/src/packages/strip-trailing-whitespace/spec/strip-trailing-whitespace-spec.coffee
@@ -64,3 +64,8 @@ describe "StripTrailingWhitespace", ->
       editor.insertText ""
       editor.save()
       expect(editor.getText()).toBe ""
+
+    it "leaves a buffer that is a single newline untouched", ->
+      editor.insertText "\n"
+      editor.save()
+      expect(editor.getText()).toBe "\n"
diff --git a/src/packages/strip-trailing-whitespace/src/strip-trailing-whitespace.coffee b/src/packages/strip-trailing-whitespace/src/strip-trailing-whitespace.coffee
index 49a977b50..51f96f70a 100644
--- a/src/packages/strip-trailing-whitespace/src/strip-trailing-whitespace.coffee
+++ b/src/packages/strip-trailing-whitespace/src/strip-trailing-whitespace.coffee
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ module.exports =
           replace('')
         if config.get('stripTrailingWhitespace.singleTrailingNewline')
           if buffer.getLastLine() is ''
-            row = buffer.getLastRow()
-            while row and buffer.lineForRow(--row) is ''
-              buffer.deleteRow(row)
+            row = buffer.getLastRow() - 1
+            while row and buffer.lineForRow(row) is ''
+              buffer.deleteRow(row--)
           else
             buffer.append('\n')