diff --git a/pandas/core/frame.py b/pandas/core/frame.py
index 476bcd7da8d91..0f59d3a1d417c 100644
--- a/pandas/core/frame.py
+++ b/pandas/core/frame.py
@@ -2860,12 +2860,14 @@ def plot(self, subplots=False, sharex=True, sharey=False, use_index=True,
             x = range(len(self))
 
         for i, col in enumerate(_try_sort(self.columns)):
+            empty = self[col].count() == 0
+            y = self[col].values if not empty else np.zeros(x.shape)
             if subplots:
                 ax = axes[i]
-                ax.plot(x, self[col].values, 'k', label=col, **kwds)
+                ax.plot(x, y, 'k', label=col, **kwds)
                 ax.legend(loc='best')
             else:
-                ax.plot(x, self[col].values, label=col, **kwds)
+                ax.plot(x, y, label=col, **kwds)
 
             ax.grid(grid)