diff --git a/pandas/tools/plotting.py b/pandas/tools/plotting.py
index 012d67d29cc3f5..0dcb683942ff05 100644
--- a/pandas/tools/plotting.py
+++ b/pandas/tools/plotting.py
@@ -1342,6 +1342,7 @@ def _get_xticks(self, convert_period=False):
                 """
                 x = index._mpl_repr()
             elif is_datetype:
+                self.data = self.data[notnull(self.data.index)]
                 self.data = self.data.sort_index()
                 x = self.data.index._mpl_repr()
             else: