diff --git a/builtin/show-branch.c b/builtin/show-branch.c
index 082449293b..f1e8318592 100644
--- a/builtin/show-branch.c
+++ b/builtin/show-branch.c
@@ -761,6 +761,7 @@ int cmd_show_branch(int ac, const char **av, const char *prefix)
 			char *logmsg;
 			char *nth_desc;
 			const char *msg;
+			char *end;
 			timestamp_t timestamp;
 			int tz;
 
@@ -770,11 +771,12 @@ int cmd_show_branch(int ac, const char **av, const char *prefix)
 				reflog = i;
 				break;
 			}
-			msg = strchr(logmsg, '\t');
-			if (!msg)
-				msg = "(none)";
-			else
-				msg++;
+
+			end = strchr(logmsg, '\n');
+			if (end)
+				*end = '\0';
+
+			msg = (*logmsg == '\0') ? "(none)" : logmsg;
 			reflog_msg[i] = xstrfmt("(%s) %s",
 						show_date(timestamp, tz,
 							  DATE_MODE(RELATIVE)),
diff --git a/t/t3202-show-branch.sh b/t/t3202-show-branch.sh
index ad9902a06b..d4d64401e4 100755
--- a/t/t3202-show-branch.sh
+++ b/t/t3202-show-branch.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@ test_description='test show-branch'
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+# arbitrary reference time: 2009-08-30 19:20:00
+GIT_TEST_DATE_NOW=1251660000; export GIT_TEST_DATE_NOW
+
 test_expect_success 'setup' '
 	test_commit initial &&
 	for i in $(test_seq 1 10)
@@ -146,4 +149,16 @@ test_expect_success 'show branch --merge-base with N arguments' '
 	test_cmp expect actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'show branch --reflog=2' '
+	sed "s/^>	//" >expect <<-\EOF &&
+	>	! [refs/heads/branch10@{0}] (4 years, 5 months ago) commit: branch10
+	>	 ! [refs/heads/branch10@{1}] (4 years, 5 months ago) commit: branch10
+	>	--
+	>	+  [refs/heads/branch10@{0}] branch10
+	>	++ [refs/heads/branch10@{1}] initial
+	EOF
+	git show-branch --reflog=2 >actual &&
+	test_cmp actual expect
+'
+
 test_done