diff --git a/testdata/parseYaml.golden b/testdata/parseYaml.golden
index 8c1a439b..a5eb13dd 100644
--- a/testdata/parseYaml.golden
+++ b/testdata/parseYaml.golden
@@ -37,5 +37,22 @@
       "---a": 2,
       "a": 1,
       "a---": 3
-   }
+   },
+   [
+      {
+         "a": 1
+      },
+      "hello world\n",
+      3
+   ],
+   [
+      {
+         "a": 1
+      },
+      null,
+      2
+   ],
+   [
+      null
+   ]
 ]
diff --git a/testdata/parseYaml.jsonnet b/testdata/parseYaml.jsonnet
index bc82dc18..9910f8f2 100644
--- a/testdata/parseYaml.jsonnet
+++ b/testdata/parseYaml.jsonnet
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
     |||
       ---
       a: 1
-      ---   
+      ---
       a: 2
     |||,
 
@@ -42,5 +42,23 @@
       ---a: 2
       a---: 3
     |||,
+
+    // Scalar documents can start on the same line as the document-start marker
+    |||
+      a: 1
+      --- >
+        hello
+        world
+      --- 3
+    |||,
+
+    // Documents can be empty; this is interpreted as null
+    |||
+      a: 1
+      ---
+      --- 2
+    |||,
+
+    "---",
   ]
 ]
diff --git a/yaml.go b/yaml.go
index 4f08694e..a2bf3517 100644
--- a/yaml.go
+++ b/yaml.go
@@ -20,14 +20,10 @@ import (
 	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
 	"io"
-	"strings"
-	"unicode"
 
 	"sigs.k8s.io/yaml"
 )
 
-const separator = "---"
-
 // YAMLToJSONDecoder decodes YAML documents from an io.Reader by
 // separating individual documents. It first converts the YAML
 // body to JSON, then unmarshals the JSON.
@@ -76,6 +72,7 @@ type Reader interface {
 // YAMLReader reads YAML
 type YAMLReader struct {
 	reader Reader
+	buffer bytes.Buffer
 	stream bool
 }
 
@@ -86,38 +83,44 @@ func NewYAMLReader(r *bufio.Reader) *YAMLReader {
 	}
 }
 
+var docStartMarker = []byte("---")
+
 // Read returns a full YAML document.
 func (r *YAMLReader) read() ([]byte, error) {
-	var buffer bytes.Buffer
 	for {
 		line, err := r.reader.Read()
 		if err != nil && err != io.EOF {
 			return nil, err
 		}
 
-		sep := len([]byte(separator))
-		if i := bytes.Index(line, []byte(separator)); i == 0 {
-			// We have a potential document terminator
-			i += sep
-			after := line[i:]
-			if len(strings.TrimRightFunc(string(after), unicode.IsSpace)) == 0 {
+		// Per https://yaml.org/spec/1.2.2/#912-document-markers
+		// Document content lines are forbidden to contain marker sequences.
+		// The marker sequences are `---` or `...` at the start of the line,
+		// followed by space, tab, CR, LF, or EOF.
+		if bytes.HasPrefix(line, docStartMarker) {
+			end := len(docStartMarker)
+			if end == len(line) || line[end] == '\n' || line[end] == ' ' || line[end] == '\t' {
 				r.stream = true
-				if buffer.Len() != 0 {
-					return buffer.Bytes(), nil
-				}
-				if err == io.EOF {
-					return nil, err
+				if r.buffer.Len() != 0 {
+					out := append([]byte(nil), r.buffer.Bytes()...)
+					r.buffer.Reset()
+					// The document start marker should be included in the next document.
+					r.buffer.Write(line)
+					return out, nil
 				}
 			}
 		}
+
 		if err == io.EOF {
-			if buffer.Len() != 0 {
+			if r.buffer.Len() != 0 {
 				// If we're at EOF, we have a final, non-terminated line. Return it.
-				return buffer.Bytes(), nil
+				out := append([]byte(nil), r.buffer.Bytes()...)
+				r.buffer.Reset()
+				return out, nil
 			}
 			return nil, err
 		}
-		buffer.Write(line)
+		r.buffer.Write(line)
 	}
 }