diff --git a/spec/app/buffer-spec.coffee b/spec/app/buffer-spec.coffee
index f1478a3bb..676c90218 100644
--- a/spec/app/buffer-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/app/buffer-spec.coffee
@@ -81,11 +81,11 @@ describe 'Buffer', ->
         expect(buffer).toBe savedBuffer
 
     describe 'when the state has text (and no path)', ->
-      it 'creates a new buffer with the given text', ->
+      it 'creates a new empty buffer (does not serialze unsaved text)', ->
         unsavedBuffer = project.open()
         unsavedBuffer.setText("OMGWTFBBQ")
         buffer = Buffer.deserialize(unsavedBuffer.serialize(), project)
-        expect(buffer).toBe unsavedBuffer
+        expect(buffer.getText()).toBe ""
 
   describe ".getLines()", ->
     it "returns an array of lines in the text contents", ->
diff --git a/spec/stdlib/fs-spec.coffee b/spec/stdlib/fs-spec.coffee
index da633da51..ac8988e3d 100644
--- a/spec/stdlib/fs-spec.coffee
+++ b/spec/stdlib/fs-spec.coffee
@@ -25,6 +25,16 @@ describe "fs", ->
         expect(fs.directory(require.resolve('fixtures/dir'))).toBe require.resolve('fixtures')
         expect(fs.directory(require.resolve('fixtures/dir/'))).toBe require.resolve('fixtures')
 
+  describe ".exists(path)", ->
+    it "returns true when path exsits", ->
+      expect(fs.exists(require.resolve('fixtures'))).toBe true
+
+    it "returns false when path doesn't exsit", ->
+      expect(fs.exists(require.resolve("fixtures") + "/-nope-does-not-exist")).toBe false
+      expect(fs.exists("")).toBe false
+      expect(fs.exists(null)).toBe false
+      expect(fs.exists(undefined)).toBe false
+
   describe ".join(paths...)", ->
     it "concatenates the given paths with the directory seperator", ->
       expect(fs.join('a')).toBe 'a'
diff --git a/src/app/buffer.coffee b/src/app/buffer.coffee
index 525b9a5eb..79110dbcb 100644
--- a/src/app/buffer.coffee
+++ b/src/app/buffer.coffee
@@ -13,20 +13,13 @@ class Buffer
   path: null
 
   @deserialize: (state, project) ->
-    if state.path
-      buffer = project.open(state.path)
-    else
-      buffer = project.bufferWithId(state.id) ? project.open()
-      buffer.setText(state.text)
-      buffer.modified = state.modified
-
-    buffer
+    project.open(state.path)
 
   constructor: (path) ->
     @id = @constructor.idCounter++
     @setPath(path)
     @lines = ['']
-    if @getPath() and fs.exists(@getPath())
+    if fs.exists(@getPath())
       @setText(fs.read(@getPath()))
     else
       @setText('')
@@ -34,10 +27,7 @@ class Buffer
     @modified = false
 
   serialize: ->
-    if @getPath()
-      { path: @path }
-    else
-      { text: @getText(), id: @id , modified: @modified}
+    path: @getPath()
 
   getPath: ->
     @path