diff --git a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/formats/__tests__/frontmatter.spec.js b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/formats/__tests__/frontmatter.spec.js
index 2ea344523375..eef5d7a88827 100644
--- a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/formats/__tests__/frontmatter.spec.js
+++ b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/formats/__tests__/frontmatter.spec.js
@@ -179,14 +179,14 @@ describe('Frontmatter', () => {
         'title: YAML',
         '---',
         'Some content',
-        'On another line\n',
+        'On another line',
       ].join('\n'),
     );
   });
 
   it('should stringify YAML with missing body', () => {
     expect(FrontmatterInfer.toFile({ tags: ['front matter', 'yaml'], title: 'YAML' })).toEqual(
-      ['---', 'tags:', '  - front matter', '  - yaml', 'title: YAML', '---', '', ''].join('\n'),
+      ['---', 'tags:', '  - front matter', '  - yaml', 'title: YAML', '---', ''].join('\n'),
     );
   });
 
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ describe('Frontmatter', () => {
         'title: YAML',
         '---',
         'Some content',
-        'On another line\n',
+        'On another line',
       ].join('\n'),
     );
   });
@@ -227,7 +227,7 @@ describe('Frontmatter', () => {
         'title: YAML',
         '~~~',
         'Some content',
-        'On another line\n',
+        'On another line',
       ].join('\n'),
     );
   });
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ describe('Frontmatter', () => {
         'title: YAML',
         '^^^',
         'Some content',
-        'On another line\n',
+        'On another line',
       ].join('\n'),
     );
   });
@@ -267,7 +267,7 @@ describe('Frontmatter', () => {
         'title = "TOML"',
         '+++',
         'Some content',
-        'On another line\n',
+        'On another line',
       ].join('\n'),
     );
   });
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ describe('Frontmatter', () => {
         'title = "TOML"',
         '~~~',
         'Some content',
-        'On another line\n',
+        'On another line',
       ].join('\n'),
     );
   });
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ describe('Frontmatter', () => {
         '  "title": "JSON"',
         '}',
         'Some content',
-        'On another line\n',
+        'On another line',
       ].join('\n'),
     );
   });
@@ -330,8 +330,24 @@ describe('Frontmatter', () => {
         '  "title": "JSON"',
         '~~~',
         'Some content',
-        'On another line\n',
+        'On another line',
       ].join('\n'),
     );
   });
+
+  it('should trim last line break if added by grey-matter', () => {
+    expect(
+      frontmatterYAML().toFile({
+        body: 'noLineBreak',
+      }),
+    ).toEqual('noLineBreak');
+  });
+
+  it('should not trim last line break if not added by grey-matter', () => {
+    expect(
+      frontmatterYAML().toFile({
+        body: 'withLineBreak\n',
+      }),
+    ).toEqual('withLineBreak\n');
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/formats/frontmatter.js b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/formats/frontmatter.js
index 309f32ce5103..a9700c0a64fa 100644
--- a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/formats/frontmatter.js
+++ b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/formats/frontmatter.js
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ class FrontmatterFormatter {
     const result = matter(content, { engines: parsers, ...format });
     return {
       ...result.data,
-      ...(result.content.trim() && { body: result.content }),
+      body: result.content,
     };
   }
 
@@ -83,8 +83,13 @@ class FrontmatterFormatter {
     const format = this.format || getFormatOpts('yaml');
     if (this.customDelimiter) this.format.delimiters = this.customDelimiter;
 
+    // gray-matter always adds a line break at the end which trips our
+    // change detection logic
+    // https://github.com/jonschlinkert/gray-matter/issues/96
+    const trimLastLineBreak = body.slice(-1) !== '\n' ? true : false;
     // `sortedKeys` is not recognized by gray-matter, so it gets passed through to the parser
-    return matter.stringify(body, meta, { engines: parsers, sortedKeys, ...format });
+    const file = matter.stringify(body, meta, { engines: parsers, sortedKeys, ...format });
+    return trimLastLineBreak && file.slice(-1) === '\n' ? file.substring(0, file.length - 1) : file;
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/reducers/entryDraft.js b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/reducers/entryDraft.js
index 48ed07ecee0b..4f0fb76dd4e7 100644
--- a/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/reducers/entryDraft.js
+++ b/packages/netlify-cms-core/src/reducers/entryDraft.js
@@ -31,6 +31,13 @@ const initialState = Map({
   key: '',
 });
 
+const isChanged = (entry, value) => {
+  if (entry && !entry.get('data').equals(value)) {
+    return true;
+  }
+  return false;
+};
+
 const entryDraftReducer = (state = Map(), action) => {
   switch (action.type) {
     case DRAFT_CREATE_FROM_ENTRY:
@@ -89,18 +96,19 @@ const entryDraftReducer = (state = Map(), action) => {
       return state.set('localBackup', newState);
     }
     case DRAFT_CHANGE_FIELD: {
-      const publishedEntry = action.payload.publishedEntry || Map();
-      const unpublishedEntry = action.payload.unpublishedEntry || Map();
-      let newState = state.withMutations(state => {
-        state.setIn(['entry', 'data', action.payload.field], action.payload.value);
+      const publishedEntry = action.payload.publishedEntry;
+      const unpublishedEntry = action.payload.unpublishedEntry;
+      const { value } = action.payload;
+      const newState = state.withMutations(state => {
         state.mergeDeepIn(['fieldsMetaData'], fromJS(action.payload.metadata));
-        state.set('hasChanged', true);
+        state.setIn(['entry', 'data', action.payload.field], value);
+        const newData = state.getIn(['entry', 'data']);
+        if (isChanged(publishedEntry, newData) || isChanged(unpublishedEntry, newData)) {
+          state.set('hasChanged', true);
+        } else {
+          state.set('hasChanged', false);
+        }
       });
-      const newStateData = newState.getIn(['entry', 'data']);
-
-      (newStateData.equals(unpublishedEntry.get('data')) ||
-        newStateData.equals(publishedEntry.get('data'))) &&
-        (newState = newState.set('hasChanged', false));
 
       return newState;
     }