diff --git a/packages/minimongo/minimongo_tests.js b/packages/minimongo/minimongo_tests.js
index b3713eb25c..ec3cf13f4a 100644
--- a/packages/minimongo/minimongo_tests.js
+++ b/packages/minimongo/minimongo_tests.js
@@ -875,6 +875,40 @@ Tinytest.add("minimongo - sort", function (test) {
       {a: 47, b: 1, _id: "47_1"}]);
 });
 
+Tinytest.add("minimongo - subkey sort", function (test) {
+  var c = new LocalCollection();
+
+  // normal case
+  c.insert({a: {b: 2}});
+  c.insert({a: {b: 1}});
+  c.insert({a: {b: 3}});
+  test.equal(
+    _.pluck(c.find({}, {sort: {'a.b': -1}}).fetch(), 'a'),
+    [{b: 3}, {b: 2}, {b: 1}]);
+
+  // isn't an object
+  c.insert({a: 1});
+  test.equal(
+    _.pluck(c.find({}, {sort: {'a.b': 1}}).fetch(), 'a'),
+    [1, {b: 1}, {b: 2}, {b: 3}]);
+
+  // complex object
+  c.insert({a: {b: {c: 1}}});
+  test.equal(
+    _.pluck(c.find({}, {sort: {'a.b': -1}}).fetch(), 'a'),
+    [{b: {c: 1}}, {b: 3}, {b: 2}, {b: 1}, 1]);
+
+  // no such top level prop
+  c.insert({c: 1});
+  test.equal(
+    _.pluck(c.find({}, {sort: {'a.b': -1}}).fetch(), 'a'),
+    [{b: {c: 1}}, {b: 3}, {b: 2}, {b: 1}, 1, undefined]);
+
+  // no such mid level prop. just test that it doesn't throw.
+  test.equal(c.find({}, {sort: {'a.nope.c': -1}}).count(), 6);
+});
+
+
 Tinytest.add("minimongo - modify", function (test) {
   var modify = function (doc, mod, result) {
     var copy = LocalCollection._deepcopy(doc);
diff --git a/packages/minimongo/sort.js b/packages/minimongo/sort.js
index 6d1d8077fe..94420cf237 100644
--- a/packages/minimongo/sort.js
+++ b/packages/minimongo/sort.js
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@
 // first object comes first in order, 1 if the second object comes
 // first, or 0 if neither object comes before the other.
 
-// XXX sort does not yet support subkeys ('a.b') .. fix that!
-
 LocalCollection._compileSort = function (spec) {
   var keys = [];
   var asc = [];
@@ -44,14 +42,24 @@ LocalCollection._compileSort = function (spec) {
   var _func;
   var code = "_func = (function(c){return function(a,b){var x;";
   for (var i = 0; i < keys.length; i++) {
-    if (i !== 0)
+    // handle dotted subpaths. Make sure to avoid dereferencing
+    // undefined if a subkey doesn't exist.
+    var splittedKeys = keys[i].split(".");
+    var keyString = "";
+    var aCode = "a";
+    var bCode = "b";
+    for(var o = 0; o < splittedKeys.length; o++) {
+      keyString  = keyString + "[" + JSON.stringify(splittedKeys[o]) + "]";
+      aCode += '&&a' + keyString;
+      bCode += '&&b' + keyString;
+    }
+    if (i !== 0) {
       code += "if(x!==0)return x;";
+    }
     code += "x=" + (asc[i] ? "" : "-") +
-      "c(a[" + JSON.stringify(keys[i]) + "],b[" +
-      JSON.stringify(keys[i]) + "]);";
+      "c(" + aCode + "," + bCode + ");";
   }
   code += "return x;};})";
-
   eval(code);
   return _func(LocalCollection._f._cmp);
 };