diff --git a/zephyr/static/js/narrow.js b/zephyr/static/js/narrow.js
index 44ba66f314..4961973a65 100644
--- a/zephyr/static/js/narrow.js
+++ b/zephyr/static/js/narrow.js
@@ -152,10 +152,14 @@ function build_filter(operators_mixed_case) {
                 break;
 
             case 'search':
-                if (message.content.toLowerCase().indexOf(operand) === -1) {
-                    if ((message.type !== 'stream') ||
-                        (message.subject.toLowerCase().indexOf(operand) === -1)) {
-                        return false;
+                var words = operand.trim().split(/\s+/);
+                var j;
+                for (j = 0; j < words.length; ++j) {
+                    if (message.content.toLowerCase().indexOf(words[j]) === -1) {
+                        if ((message.type !== 'stream') ||
+                            (message.subject.toLowerCase().indexOf(words[j]) === -1)) {
+                            return false;
+                        }
                     }
                 }
                 break;
diff --git a/zephyr/views.py b/zephyr/views.py
index 32b5e841da..f0559bd57f 100644
--- a/zephyr/views.py
+++ b/zephyr/views.py
@@ -559,12 +559,15 @@ class NarrowBuilder(object):
                     (Q(sender=self.user_profile) & Q(recipient=narrow_recipient)))
 
     def do_search(self, query, operand):
+        words = operand.split()
         if "postgres" in settings.DATABASES["default"]["ENGINE"]:
             sql = "to_tsvector('english', subject || ' ' || content) @@ to_tsquery('english', %s)"
-            return query.extra(where=[sql], params=[operand])
+            return query.extra(where=[sql], params=[" & ".join(words)])
         else:
-            return query.filter(Q(content__icontains=operand) |
-                                Q(subject__icontains=operand))
+            for word in words:
+                query = query.filter(Q(content__icontains=word) |
+                                     Q(subject__icontains=word))
+            return query
 
 
 def narrow_parameter(json):