diff --git a/src/core/__tests__/ReactErrorBoundaries-test.js b/src/core/__tests__/ReactErrorBoundaries-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..4cea533e3e9393
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/core/__tests__/ReactErrorBoundaries-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2013-2015, Facebook, Inc.
+ * All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree. An additional grant
+ * of patent rights can be found in the PATENTS file in the same directory.
+ *
+ * @emails react-core
+ */
+
+'use strict';
+
+var React;
+var ReactDOM;
+
+describe('ReactErrorBoundaries', function() {
+
+  beforeEach(function() {
+    ReactDOM = require('ReactDOM');
+    React = require('React');
+  });
+
+  it('catches errors from children', function() {
+    var log = [];
+
+    class Box extends React.Component {
+      constructor(props) {
+        super(props);
+        this._errorMessage = undefined;
+      }
+      render() {
+        if (this._errorMessage) {
+          log.push('Box renderError');
+          return <div>Error: {this._errorMessage}</div>;
+        }
+        log.push('Box render');
+        var ref = function(x) {
+          log.push('Inquisitive ref ' + x);
+        };
+        return (
+          <div>
+            <Inquisitive ref={ref} />
+            <Angry />
+          </div>
+        );
+      }
+      handleError(e) {
+        this._errorMessage = e.message;
+      }
+      componentDidMount() {
+        log.push('Box componentDidMount');
+      }
+      componentWillUnmount() {
+        log.push('Box componentWillUnmount');
+      }
+    }
+
+    class Inquisitive extends React.Component {
+      render() {
+        log.push('Inquisitive render');
+        return <div>What is love?</div>;
+      }
+      componentDidMount() {
+        log.push('Inquisitive componentDidMount');
+      }
+      componentWillUnmount() {
+        log.push('Inquisitive componentWillUnmount');
+      }
+    }
+
+    class Angry extends React.Component {
+      render() {
+        log.push('Angry render');
+        throw new Error('Please, do not render me.');
+      }
+      componentDidMount() {
+        log.push('Angry componentDidMount');
+      }
+      componentWillUnmount() {
+        log.push('Angry componentWillUnmount');
+      }
+    }
+
+    var container = document.createElement('div');
+    ReactDOM.render(<Box />, container);
+    expect(container.textContent).toBe('Error: Please, do not render me.');
+    expect(log).toEqual([
+      'Box render',
+      'Inquisitive render',
+      'Angry render',
+      'Inquisitive ref null',
+      'Inquisitive componentWillUnmount',
+      'Angry componentWillUnmount',
+      'Box renderError',
+    ]);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/renderers/dom/client/ReactReconcileTransaction.js b/src/renderers/dom/client/ReactReconcileTransaction.js
index cc71061bb2bd66..17776aa99c1dc6 100644
--- a/src/renderers/dom/client/ReactReconcileTransaction.js
+++ b/src/renderers/dom/client/ReactReconcileTransaction.js
@@ -137,6 +137,19 @@ var Mixin = {
     return this.reactMountReady;
   },
 
+  /**
+   * Save current transaction state -- if the return value from this method is
+   * passed to `rollback`, the transaction will be reset to that state.
+   */
+  checkpoint: function() {
+    // reactMountReady is the our only stateful wrapper
+    return this.reactMountReady.checkpoint();
+  },
+
+  rollback: function(checkpoint) {
+    this.reactMountReady.rollback(checkpoint);
+  },
+
   /**
    * `PooledClass` looks for this, and will invoke this before allowing this
    * instance to be reused.
diff --git a/src/renderers/shared/reconciler/ReactCompositeComponent.js b/src/renderers/shared/reconciler/ReactCompositeComponent.js
index b341eec2f8d37f..585ef6a7876c28 100644
--- a/src/renderers/shared/reconciler/ReactCompositeComponent.js
+++ b/src/renderers/shared/reconciler/ReactCompositeComponent.js
@@ -28,6 +28,12 @@ var invariant = require('invariant');
 var shouldUpdateReactComponent = require('shouldUpdateReactComponent');
 var warning = require('warning');
 
+/**
+ * Used to indicate that no error has been thrown (since you can actually throw
+ * null, undefined, and seemingly anything else).
+ */
+var NO_ERROR = {};
+
 function getDeclarationErrorAddendum(component) {
   var owner = component._currentElement._owner || null;
   if (owner) {
@@ -99,6 +105,7 @@ var ReactCompositeComponentMixin = {
     this._instance = null;
     this._nativeParent = null;
     this._nativeContainerInfo = null;
+    this._renderedNodeType = null;
 
     // See ReactUpdateQueue
     this._pendingElement = null;
@@ -106,9 +113,8 @@ var ReactCompositeComponentMixin = {
     this._pendingReplaceState = false;
     this._pendingForceUpdate = false;
 
-    this._renderedNodeType = null;
+    this._caughtError = NO_ERROR;
     this._renderedComponent = null;
-
     this._context = null;
     this._mountOrder = 0;
     this._topLevelWrapper = null;
@@ -278,6 +284,36 @@ var ReactCompositeComponentMixin = {
     this._pendingReplaceState = false;
     this._pendingForceUpdate = false;
 
+    var markup;
+    if (inst.handleError) {
+      var checkpoint = transaction.checkpoint();
+      try {
+        markup = this.performInitialMount(renderedElement, nativeParent, nativeContainerInfo, transaction, context);
+      } catch (e) {
+        this._caughtError = e;
+        inst.handleError(e);
+        this._renderedComponent.unmountComponent();
+        transaction.rollback(checkpoint);
+
+        // Try again - we've informed the component about the error, so they can render an error message this time.
+        // If this throws again, the error will bubble up (and can be caught by a higher error boundary).
+        markup = this.performInitialMount(renderedElement, nativeParent, nativeContainerInfo, transaction, context);
+        // Don't call componentDidMount (TODO: wait, what?  why not?)
+        return markup;
+      }
+    } else {
+      markup = this.performInitialMount(renderedElement, nativeParent, nativeContainerInfo, transaction, context);
+    }
+
+    if (inst.componentDidMount) {
+      transaction.getReactMountReady().enqueue(inst.componentDidMount, inst);
+    }
+
+    return markup;
+  },
+
+  performInitialMount: function(renderedElement, nativeParent, nativeContainerInfo, transaction, context) {
+    var inst = this._instance;
     if (inst.componentWillMount) {
       inst.componentWillMount();
       // When mounting, calls to `setState` by `componentWillMount` will set
@@ -304,9 +340,6 @@ var ReactCompositeComponentMixin = {
       nativeContainerInfo,
       this._processChildContext(context)
     );
-    if (inst.componentDidMount) {
-      transaction.getReactMountReady().enqueue(inst.componentDidMount, inst);
-    }
 
     return markup;
   },
@@ -328,10 +361,12 @@ var ReactCompositeComponentMixin = {
       inst.componentWillUnmount();
     }
 
-    ReactReconciler.unmountComponent(this._renderedComponent);
-    this._renderedNodeType = null;
-    this._renderedComponent = null;
-    this._instance = null;
+    if (this._renderedComponent) {
+      ReactReconciler.unmountComponent(this._renderedComponent);
+      this._renderedNodeType = null;
+      this._renderedComponent = null;
+      this._instance = null;
+    }
 
     // Reset pending fields
     // Even if this component is scheduled for another update in ReactUpdates,
@@ -786,7 +821,8 @@ var ReactCompositeComponentMixin = {
    */
   _renderValidatedComponentWithoutOwnerOrContext: function() {
     var inst = this._instance;
-    var renderedComponent = inst.render();
+    var renderedComponent;
+    renderedComponent = inst.render();
     if (__DEV__) {
       // We allow auto-mocks to proceed as if they're returning null.
       if (typeof renderedComponent === 'undefined' &&
diff --git a/src/shared/utils/CallbackQueue.js b/src/shared/utils/CallbackQueue.js
index 089d6802920c00..2fca444c49b2f3 100644
--- a/src/shared/utils/CallbackQueue.js
+++ b/src/shared/utils/CallbackQueue.js
@@ -72,6 +72,17 @@ assign(CallbackQueue.prototype, {
     }
   },
 
+  checkpoint: function() {
+    return this._callbacks ? this._callbacks.length : 0;
+  },
+
+  rollback: function(len) {
+    if (this._callbacks) {
+      this._callbacks.length = len;
+      this._contexts.length = len;
+    }
+  },
+
   /**
    * Resets the internal queue.
    *