diff --git a/xdoc/plugin.jelly b/xdoc/plugin.jelly
index 9074e8a0..cf4d1c3e 100644
--- a/xdoc/plugin.jelly
+++ b/xdoc/plugin.jelly
@@ -712,9 +712,12 @@
     <j:forEach var="pomDocument" items="${pomDocuments}">
 
       <j:set var="templateBaseDir" value="${plugin.resources}/templates"/>
-      <util:available file="${maven.xdoc.custom.templateDir}/${pomDocument}">
+      <j:set var="_customTemplateDir" value="${maven.xdoc.custom.templateDir}"/>
+      <j:if test="${_customTemplateDir!=null and !_customTemplateDir.equals('')}">
+        <util:available file="${maven.xdoc.custom.templateDir}/${pomDocument}">
           <j:set var="templateBaseDir" value="${maven.xdoc.custom.templateDir}"/>
-      </util:available>
+        </util:available>
+      </j:if>
       <!-- If the template ends with ".xml" use velocity to generate the 
            HTML. If it ends with ".jelly" use JSL. -->
       <j:choose>
diff --git a/xdoc/xdocs/changes.xml b/xdoc/xdocs/changes.xml
index 7af2ddaf..bc164674 100644
--- a/xdoc/xdocs/changes.xml
+++ b/xdoc/xdocs/changes.xml
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
   </properties>
   <body>
     <release version="1.10.1-SNAPSHOT" date="In SVN">
+      <action dev="ltheussl" type="fix" issue="MPXDOC-201">Plugin fails if there is an index.xml in the filesystem root directory.</action>
       <action dev="ltheussl" type="fix" issue="MPXDOC-199">Improve stylus.css.</action>
       <action dev="aheritier" type="update" issue="MAVEN-1769">Upgrade maven-model to version 3.0.2</action>
       <action dev="dennisl" type="fix" issue="MPXDOC-198">Wrong margin around organization/name when no organization/logo is present.</action>