diff --git a/src/main.js b/src/main.js
index 94eb016c..7116d7b7 100644
--- a/src/main.js
+++ b/src/main.js
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ $(document).ready(function(){
   setTimeout(windowResize, 50);
 
   setTimeout(function() {
-    events.trigger('submitCommandValueFromEvent', "gc; gc; gc; gc; gc; gc; git checkout master^^^^; git commit; git checkout -b another; gc; gc; git rebase master");
+    events.trigger('submitCommandValueFromEvent', "gc; git checkout HEAD~1; git commit; git checkout -b bugFix; gc; gc; git rebase master; git checkout master; gc; gc; git merge bugFix");
   }, 500);
 
 });
diff --git a/src/tree.js b/src/tree.js
index 84a4161f..d2980769 100644
--- a/src/tree.js
+++ b/src/tree.js
@@ -426,6 +426,11 @@ var VisNode = Backbone.Model.extend({
     this.set('outgoingEdges', []);
   },
 
+  setDepth: function(depth) {
+    // for merge commits we need to max the depths across all
+    this.set('depth', Math.max(this.get('depth') || 0, depth));
+  },
+
   setDepthBasedOn: function(depthIncrement) {
     if (this.get('depth') === undefined) {
       throw new Error('no depth yet!');
diff --git a/src/visuals.js b/src/visuals.js
index 794029c4..50d0ae13 100644
--- a/src/visuals.js
+++ b/src/visuals.js
@@ -374,7 +374,7 @@ GitVisuals.prototype.getDepthIncrement = function(maxDepth) {
 };
 
 GitVisuals.prototype.calcDepthRecursive = function(commit, depth) {
-  commit.get('visNode').set('depth', depth);
+  commit.get('visNode').setDepth(depth);
 
   var children = commit.get('children');
   var maxDepth = depth;