diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e029a3b..1552b22 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -33,12 +33,12 @@ to the plugin, please see [these instructions](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md).
 
 Here's the Git urls format, followed by examples:
 
-    git+https://[provider.com]/[user]/[repo]@[path/to/charts][?[ref=git-ref][&sparse=0][&depupdate=0]]
-    git+ssh://git@[provider.com]/[user]/[repo]@[path/to/charts][?[ref=git-ref][&sparse=0][&depupdate=0]]
-    git+file://[path/to/repo]@[path/to/charts][?[ref=git-ref][&sparse=0][&depupdate=0]]
+    git+https://[provider.com]/[user]/[repo]@[path/to/charts][?[ref=git-ref][&sparse=1][&depupdate=0]]
+    git+ssh://git@[provider.com]/[user]/[repo]@[path/to/charts][?[ref=git-ref][&sparse=1][&depupdate=0]]
+    git+file://[path/to/repo]@[path/to/charts][?[ref=git-ref][&sparse=1][&depupdate=0]]
 
-    git+https://github.com/jetstack/cert-manager@deploy/charts?ref=v0.6.2&sparse=0
-    git+ssh://git@github.com/jetstack/cert-manager@deploy/charts?ref=v0.6.2&sparse=1
+    git+https://github.com/jetstack/cert-manager@deploy/charts?ref=v0.6.2&sparse=1
+    git+ssh://git@github.com/jetstack/cert-manager@deploy/charts?ref=v0.6.2&sparse=0
     git+ssh://git@github.com/jetstack/cert-manager@deploy/charts?ref=v0.6.2
     git+https://github.com/istio/istio@install/kubernetes/helm?ref=1.5.4&sparse=0&depupdate=0
     git+https://github.com/bitnami/charts@bitnami/wordpress?depupdate=0?ref=master&sparse=0&depupdate=0&package=0
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ Pulling value files:
 **name**|**description**|**default**
 --------|---------------|-----------
 `ref`|Set git ref to a branch or tag. Also works for commits with `sparse=0`.|`master`
-`sparse`|Set git strategy to sparse. Will try to fetch only the needed commits for the target path. If set to `0`, default git strategy will be used.|`1`
+`sparse`|Set git strategy to sparse. Will try to fetch only the needed commits for the target path. If set to `0`, default git strategy will be used.|`0`
 `depupdate`|Run `helm dependency update` on the retrieved chart. If set to `0`, this step is skipped.|`1`
 `package`|Run `helm package` on the retrieved chart. If set to `0`, this step is skipped.|`1`
 
diff --git a/helm-git-plugin.sh b/helm-git-plugin.sh
index 66526d8..0dbb5b5 100755
--- a/helm-git-plugin.sh
+++ b/helm-git-plugin.sh
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ main() {
   readonly git_ref="$git_ref"
 
   git_sparse=$(echo "$_raw_uri" | sed '/^.*sparse=\([^&#]*\).*$/!d;s//\1/')
-  [ -z "$git_sparse" ] && git_sparse=1
+  [ -z "$git_sparse" ] && git_sparse=0
 
   helm_depupdate=$(echo "$_raw_uri" | sed '/^.*depupdate=\([^&#]*\).*$/!d;s//\1/')
   [ -z "$helm_depupdate" ] && helm_depupdate=1