diff --git a/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/typeutils/base/DateSerializer.java b/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/typeutils/base/DateSerializer.java
index 6aa11eb8312d69..d427918786f607 100644
--- a/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/typeutils/base/DateSerializer.java
+++ b/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/typeutils/base/DateSerializer.java
@@ -43,11 +43,18 @@ public Date createInstance() {
 
 	@Override
 	public Date copy(Date from) {
+		if(from == null) {
+			return null;
+		}
 		return new Date(from.getTime());
 	}
+
 	
 	@Override
 	public Date copy(Date from, Date reuse) {
+		if(from == null) {
+			return null;
+		}
 		reuse.setTime(from.getTime());
 		return reuse;
 	}
@@ -59,17 +66,30 @@ public int getLength() {
 
 	@Override
 	public void serialize(Date record, DataOutputView target) throws IOException {
-		target.writeLong(record.getTime());
+		if(record == null) {
+			target.writeLong(-1L);
+		} else {
+			target.writeLong(record.getTime());
+		}
 	}
 
 	@Override
 	public Date deserialize(DataInputView source) throws IOException {
-		return new Date(source.readLong());
+		long v = source.readLong();
+		if(v == -1L) {
+			return null;
+		} else {
+			return new Date(v);
+		}
 	}
 	
 	@Override
 	public Date deserialize(Date reuse, DataInputView source) throws IOException {
-		reuse.setTime(source.readLong());
+		long v = source.readLong();
+		if(v == -1L) {
+			return null;
+		}
+		reuse.setTime(v);
 		return reuse;
 	}
 
diff --git a/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/types/NullFieldException.java b/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/types/NullFieldException.java
index c192ec25312b6b..5c48bf4792020b 100644
--- a/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/types/NullFieldException.java
+++ b/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/types/NullFieldException.java
@@ -59,6 +59,18 @@ public NullFieldException(int fieldIdx) {
 		super("Field " + fieldIdx + " is null, but expected to hold a value.");
 		this.fieldPos = fieldIdx;
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Constructs an {@code NullFieldException} with a default message, referring to
+	 * given field number as the null field and a cause (Throwable)
+	 *
+	 * @param fieldIdx The index of the field that was null, but expected to hold a value.
+	 * @param cause Pass the root cause of the error
+	 */
+	public NullFieldException(int fieldIdx, Throwable cause) {
+		super("Field " + fieldIdx + " is null, but expected to hold a value.", cause);
+		this.fieldPos = fieldIdx;
+	}
 	
 	/**
 	 * Gets the field number that was attempted to access. If the number is not set, this method returns
diff --git a/flink-core/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/typeutils/SerializerTestBase.java b/flink-core/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/typeutils/SerializerTestBase.java
index 59bea0ce21a907..998ae1218d789b 100644
--- a/flink-core/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/typeutils/SerializerTestBase.java
+++ b/flink-core/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/typeutils/SerializerTestBase.java
@@ -182,7 +182,8 @@ public void testSerializeIndividually() {
 			fail("Exception in test: " + e.getMessage());
 		}
 	}
-	
+
+
 	@Test
 	public void testSerializeIndividuallyReusingValues() {
 		try {
diff --git a/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/typeutils/runtime/TupleSerializer.java b/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/typeutils/runtime/TupleSerializer.java
index 231486d13130d6..2b330c25b479e1 100644
--- a/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/typeutils/runtime/TupleSerializer.java
+++ b/flink-java/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/java/typeutils/runtime/TupleSerializer.java
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ public void serialize(T value, DataOutputView target) throws IOException {
 			try {
 				fieldSerializers[i].serialize(o, target);
 			} catch (NullPointerException npex) {
-				throw new NullFieldException(i);
+				throw new NullFieldException(i, npex);
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/flink-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/test/javaApiOperators/GroupReduceITCase.java b/flink-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/test/javaApiOperators/GroupReduceITCase.java
index 4061195fe3894d..d52055d0b650ae 100644
--- a/flink-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/test/javaApiOperators/GroupReduceITCase.java
+++ b/flink-tests/src/test/java/org/apache/flink/test/javaApiOperators/GroupReduceITCase.java
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
 import scala.math.BigInt;
 
 import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Date;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 
 @SuppressWarnings("serial")
@@ -1101,6 +1102,37 @@ public void testJodatimeDateTimeWithKryo() throws Exception {
 		expected = "(1)\n";
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Fix for FLINK-2158.
+	 *
+	 * @throws Exception
+	 */
+	@Test
+	public void testDateNullException() throws Exception {
+		final ExecutionEnvironment env = ExecutionEnvironment.getExecutionEnvironment();
+
+		DataSet<Tuple2<Integer, Date>> in = env.fromElements(new Tuple2<Integer, Date>(0, new Date(1230000000)),
+				new Tuple2<Integer, Date>(1, null),
+				new Tuple2<Integer, Date>(2, new Date(1230000000))
+		);
+
+		DataSet<String> r = in.groupBy(0).reduceGroup(new GroupReduceFunction<Tuple2<Integer, Date>, String>() {
+			@Override
+			public void reduce(Iterable<Tuple2<Integer, Date>> values, Collector<String> out) throws Exception {
+				for (Tuple2<Integer, Date> e : values) {
+					out.collect(Integer.toString(e.f0));
+				}
+			}
+		});
+
+		r.writeAsText(resultPath);
+		env.execute();
+
+		expected = "0\n1\n2\n";
+	}
+
+
+
 	public static class GroupReducer8 implements GroupReduceFunction<CollectionDataSets.PojoWithCollection, String> {
 		@Override
 		public void reduce(