diff --git a/contrib/plugins/fail/failtimeout.py b/contrib/plugins/fail/failtimeout.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..9477c23f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/plugins/fail/failtimeout.py
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""An example plugin that fails to answer to `getmanifest`
+
+Used to test the `getmanifest` timeout.
+"""
+import json
+import sys
+import time
+
+
+def json_getmanifest(request):
+    # Timeout is 10 seconds, so wait 11
+    time.sleep(11)
+    return {
+        "options": [
+        ],
+        "rpcmethods": [
+        ]
+    }
+
+
+methods = {
+    'getmanifest': json_getmanifest,
+}
+
+
+partial = ""
+for l in sys.stdin:
+    try:
+        partial += l
+        request = json.loads(partial)
+    except Exception:
+        continue
+
+    result = None
+    method = methods[request['method']]
+    params = request['params']
+    try:
+        if isinstance(params, dict):
+            result = method(request, **params)
+        else:
+            result = method(request, *params)
+        result = {
+            "jsonrpc": "2.0",
+            "result": result,
+            "id": request['id']
+        }
+    except Exception as e:
+        result = {
+            "jsonrpc": "2.0",
+            "error": "Error while processing {}".format(request['method']),
+            "id": request['id']
+        }
+
+    json.dump(result, fp=sys.stdout)
+    sys.stdout.write('\n')
+    sys.stdout.flush()
+    partial = ""
diff --git a/tests/test_plugin.py b/tests/test_plugin.py
index 3aa1ccb41..8b85269ad 100644
--- a/tests/test_plugin.py
+++ b/tests/test_plugin.py
@@ -77,3 +77,18 @@ def test_plugin_disable(node_factory):
                                                     'helloworld.py')]))
     with pytest.raises(RpcError):
         n.rpc.hello(name='Sun')
+
+
+def test_failing_plugins():
+    fail_plugins = [
+        'contrib/plugins/fail/failtimeout.py',
+        'contrib/plugins/fail/doesnotexist.py',
+    ]
+
+    for p in fail_plugins:
+        with pytest.raises(subprocess.CalledProcessError):
+            subprocess.check_output([
+                'lightningd/lightningd',
+                '--plugin={}'.format(p),
+                '--help',
+            ])