diff --git a/app/models/mail_handler.rb b/app/models/mail_handler.rb
index 53f37a29e..dc033de75 100644
--- a/app/models/mail_handler.rb
+++ b/app/models/mail_handler.rb
@@ -445,13 +445,19 @@ class MailHandler < ActionMailer::Base
   def plain_text_body
     return @plain_text_body unless @plain_text_body.nil?
 
+    # check if we have any plain-text parts with content
     @plain_text_body = email_parts_to_text(email.all_parts.select {|p| p.mime_type == 'text/plain'}).presence
 
+    # if not, we try to parse the body from the HTML-parts
     @plain_text_body ||= email_parts_to_text(email.all_parts.select {|p| p.mime_type == 'text/html'}).presence
 
-    @plain_text_body ||= email_parts_to_text([email])
+    # If there is still no body found, and there are no mime-parts defined,
+    # we use the whole raw mail body
+    @plain_text_body ||= email_parts_to_text([email]).presence if email.all_parts.empty?
 
-    @plain_text_body
+    # As a fallback we return an empty plain text body (e.g. if we have only
+    # empty text parts but a non-text attachment)
+    @plain_text_body ||= ""
   end
 
   def email_parts_to_text(parts)
diff --git a/test/unit/mail_handler_test.rb b/test/unit/mail_handler_test.rb
index 73040f766..5f0b3e3e0 100644
--- a/test/unit/mail_handler_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/mail_handler_test.rb
@@ -628,6 +628,11 @@ class MailHandlerTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
     assert_equal 'The html part.', issue.description
   end
 
+  def test_empty_text_and_html_part_should_make_an_empty_description
+    issue = submit_email('empty_text_and_html_part.eml', :issue => {:project => 'ecookbook'})
+    assert_equal '', issue.description
+  end
+
   def test_attachment_text_part_should_be_added_as_issue_attachment
     issue = submit_email('multiple_text_parts.eml', :issue => {:project => 'ecookbook'})
     assert_not_include 'Plain text attachment', issue.description