diff --git a/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/ex/MarkupModelEx.java b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/ex/MarkupModelEx.java
index 7f87859f38c6..80df64baa398 100644
--- a/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/ex/MarkupModelEx.java
+++ b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/ex/MarkupModelEx.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import com.intellij.openapi.editor.markup.TextAttributes;
 import com.intellij.util.Consumer;
 import com.intellij.util.Processor;
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
 
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Iterator;
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ import java.util.Iterator;
 public interface MarkupModelEx extends MarkupModel {
   void dispose();
 
+  @Nullable
   RangeHighlighter addPersistentLineHighlighter(int lineNumber, int layer, TextAttributes textAttributes);
   boolean containsHighlighter(@NotNull RangeHighlighter highlighter);
 
diff --git a/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/impl/MarkupModelImpl.java b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/impl/MarkupModelImpl.java
index fef5de229164..7a6dcfc033b5 100644
--- a/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/impl/MarkupModelImpl.java
+++ b/platform/platform-impl/src/com/intellij/openapi/editor/impl/MarkupModelImpl.java
@@ -69,7 +69,8 @@ public class MarkupModelImpl extends UserDataHolderBase implements MarkupModelEx
       throw new IndexOutOfBoundsException("lineNumber:" + lineNumber + ". Must be in [0, " + (getDocument().getLineCount() - 1) + "]");
     }
 
-    int offset = getFirstNonspaceCharOffset(getDocument(), lineNumber);
+    int offset = getDocument().getLineStartOffset(lineNumber);
+    //int offset = getFirstNonspaceCharOffset(getDocument(), lineNumber);
 
     return addRangeHighlighter(offset, offset, layer, textAttributes, HighlighterTargetArea.LINES_IN_RANGE);
   }