diff --git a/heatclient/tests/unit/test_shell.py b/heatclient/tests/unit/test_shell.py
index a1056867..9457f808 100644
--- a/heatclient/tests/unit/test_shell.py
+++ b/heatclient/tests/unit/test_shell.py
@@ -1844,6 +1844,16 @@ class ShellTestUserPass(ShellBase):
         self.shell_error('stack-adopt teststack ', failed_msg,
                          exception=exc.CommandError)
 
+    def test_stack_adopt_empty_data_file(self):
+        failed_msg = 'Invalid adopt-file, no data!'
+        self.register_keystone_auth_fixture()
+        self.m.ReplayAll()
+        with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile() as file_obj:
+            self.shell_error(
+                'stack-adopt teststack '
+                '--adopt-file=%s ' % (file_obj.name),
+                failed_msg, exception=exc.CommandError)
+
     def test_stack_update_enable_rollback(self):
         self.register_keystone_auth_fixture()
         template_file = os.path.join(TEST_VAR_DIR, 'minimal.template')
diff --git a/heatclient/v1/shell.py b/heatclient/v1/shell.py
index e791b765..0a119b4f 100644
--- a/heatclient/v1/shell.py
+++ b/heatclient/v1/shell.py
@@ -177,6 +177,9 @@ def do_stack_adopt(hc, args):
     adopt_url = utils.normalise_file_path_to_url(args.adopt_file)
     adopt_data = request.urlopen(adopt_url).read()
 
+    if not len(adopt_data):
+        raise exc.CommandError('Invalid adopt-file, no data!')
+
     if args.create_timeout:
         logger.warning(_LW('%(arg1)s is deprecated, '
                            'please use %(arg2)s instead'),