diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ddaf228..403cd65 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+## 1.2.2
+
+* Don't print the first folded frame of terse stack traces. This frame
+  is always just an internal isolate message handler anyway. This
+  improves the readability of stack traces, especially in stack chains.
+
 ## 1.2.1
 
 * Add `terse` to `LazyTrace.foldFrames()`.
diff --git a/lib/src/chain.dart b/lib/src/chain.dart
index 99726f3..9555e76 100644
--- a/lib/src/chain.dart
+++ b/lib/src/chain.dart
@@ -155,9 +155,14 @@
     var foldedTraces = traces.map(
         (trace) => trace.foldFrames(predicate, terse: terse));
     var nonEmptyTraces = foldedTraces.where((trace) {
-      // Ignore traces that contain only folded frames. These traces will be
-      // folded into a single frame each.
-      return trace.frames.length > 1;
+      // Ignore traces that contain only folded frames.
+      if (trace.frames.length > 1) return true;
+
+      // In terse mode, the trace may have removed an outer folded frame,
+      // leaving a single non-folded frame. We can detect a folded frame because
+      // it has no line information.
+      if (!terse) return false;
+      return trace.frames.single.line != null;
     });
 
     // If all the traces contain only internal processing, preserve the last
diff --git a/lib/src/trace.dart b/lib/src/trace.dart
index 53dbe33..e0cb21b 100644
--- a/lib/src/trace.dart
+++ b/lib/src/trace.dart
@@ -202,7 +202,8 @@
   /// This is accomplished by folding together multiple stack frames from the
   /// core library or from this package, as in [foldFrames]. Remaining core
   /// library frames have their libraries, "-patch" suffixes, and line numbers
-  /// removed.
+  /// removed. If the outermost frame of the stack trace is a core library
+  /// frame, it's removed entirely.
   ///
   /// For custom folding, see [foldFrames].
   Trace get terse => foldFrames((_) => false, terse: true);
@@ -216,8 +217,8 @@
   /// code and code that's called by user code.
   ///
   /// If [terse] is true, this will also fold together frames from the core
-  /// library or from this package, and simplify core library frames as in
-  /// [Trace.terse].
+  /// library or from this package, simplify core library frames, and
+  /// potentially remove the outermost frame as in [Trace.terse].
   Trace foldFrames(bool predicate(Frame frame), {bool terse: false}) {
     if (terse) {
       var oldPredicate = predicate;
@@ -255,6 +256,7 @@
         var library = frame.library.replaceAll(_terseRegExp, '');
         return new Frame(Uri.parse(library), null, null, frame.member);
       }).toList();
+      if (newFrames.first.isCore && newFrames.length > 1) newFrames.removeAt(0);
     }
 
     return new Trace(newFrames.reversed);
diff --git a/pubspec.yaml b/pubspec.yaml
index 1134a70..24acfbc 100644
--- a/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/pubspec.yaml
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 #
 # When the major version is upgraded, you *must* update that version constraint
 # in pub to stay in sync with this.
-version: 1.2.1
+version: 1.2.2-dev
 author: "Dart Team <misc@dartlang.org>"
 homepage: http://github.com/dart-lang/stack_trace
 description: >
diff --git a/test/chain_test.dart b/test/chain_test.dart
index 54bc5f5..c5f8efb 100644
--- a/test/chain_test.dart
+++ b/test/chain_test.dart
@@ -500,7 +500,6 @@
       expect(chain.terse.toString(), equals(
           'dart:core             Bar.baz\n'
           '$userSlashCode 10:11  Bang.qux\n'
-          'dart:core             Zop.zoop\n'
           '===== asynchronous gap ===========================\n'
           '$userSlashCode 10:11  Bang.qux\n'
           'dart:core             Zip.zap\n'
@@ -523,10 +522,8 @@
 
       expect(chain.terse.toString(), equals(
           '$userSlashCode 10:11  Foo.bar\n'
-          'dart:core             Bar.baz\n'
           '===== asynchronous gap ===========================\n'
-          '$userSlashCode 10:11  Foo.bar\n'
-          'dart:core             Bar.baz\n'));
+          '$userSlashCode 10:11  Foo.bar\n'));
     });
 
     test("doesn't return an empty chain", () {
diff --git a/test/trace_test.dart b/test/trace_test.dart
index 125ba95..10c931c 100644
--- a/test/trace_test.dart
+++ b/test/trace_test.dart
@@ -267,33 +267,58 @@
 
   test('.terse folds core frames together bottom-up', () {
     var trace = new Trace.parse('''
-#0 notCore (foo.dart:42:21)
 #1 top (dart:async/future.dart:0:2)
 #2 bottom (dart:core/uri.dart:1:100)
-#3 alsoNotCore (bar.dart:10:20)
-#4 top (dart:io:5:10)
-#5 bottom (dart:async-patch/future.dart:9:11)
+#0 notCore (foo.dart:42:21)
+#3 top (dart:io:5:10)
+#4 bottom (dart:async-patch/future.dart:9:11)
+#5 alsoNotCore (bar.dart:10:20)
 ''');
 
     expect(trace.terse.toString(), equals('''
-foo.dart 42:21  notCore
 dart:core       bottom
-bar.dart 10:20  alsoNotCore
+foo.dart 42:21  notCore
 dart:async      bottom
+bar.dart 10:20  alsoNotCore
 '''));
   });
 
   test('.terse folds empty async frames', () {
     var trace = new Trace.parse('''
+#0 top (dart:async/future.dart:0:2)
+#1 empty.<<anonymous closure>_async_body> (bar.dart)
+#2 bottom (dart:async-patch/future.dart:9:11)
+#3 notCore (foo.dart:42:21)
+''');
+
+    expect(trace.terse.toString(), equals('''
+dart:async      bottom
+foo.dart 42:21  notCore
+'''));
+  });
+
+  test('.terse removes the bottom-most async frame', () {
+    var trace = new Trace.parse('''
 #0 notCore (foo.dart:42:21)
 #1 top (dart:async/future.dart:0:2)
-#2 empty.<<anonymous closure>_async_body> (bar.dart)
-#3 bottom (dart:async-patch/future.dart:9:11)
+#2 bottom (dart:core/uri.dart:1:100)
+#3 top (dart:io:5:10)
+#4 bottom (dart:async-patch/future.dart:9:11)
 ''');
 
     expect(trace.terse.toString(), equals('''
 foo.dart 42:21  notCore
-dart:async      bottom
+'''));
+  });
+
+  test(".terse won't make a trace empty", () {
+    var trace = new Trace.parse('''
+#1 top (dart:async/future.dart:0:2)
+#2 bottom (dart:core/uri.dart:1:100)
+''');
+
+    expect(trace.terse.toString(), equals('''
+dart:core  bottom
 '''));
   });
 
@@ -316,7 +341,7 @@
 '''));
   });
 
-  test('.foldFrames with terse: true, folds core frames as well', () {
+  test('.foldFrames with terse: true folds core frames as well', () {
     var trace = new Trace.parse('''
 #0 notFoo (foo.dart:42:21)
 #1 fooTop (bar.dart:0:2)
@@ -332,7 +357,6 @@
 foo.dart 42:21  notFoo
 dart:async      coreBottom
 bar.dart 10:20  alsoNotFoo
-dart:async      coreBottom
 '''));
   });
 }