diff --git a/pkg/tui/model/model.go b/pkg/tui/model/model.go
index c91e518..60132ec 100644
--- a/pkg/tui/model/model.go
+++ b/pkg/tui/model/model.go
@@ -47,6 +47,14 @@ func (m *AppModel) LoadConversations() (error, []LoadedConversation) {
 	return nil, conversations
 }
 
+func (a *AppModel) LoadConversationRootMessages() ([]api.Message, error) {
+	messages, err := a.Ctx.Store.RootMessages(a.Conversation.ID)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Could not load conversation root messages: %v %v", a.Conversation.SelectedRoot, err)
+	}
+	return messages, nil
+}
+
 func (a *AppModel) LoadConversationMessages() ([]api.Message, error) {
 	messages, err := a.Ctx.Store.PathToLeaf(a.Conversation.SelectedRoot)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/tui/views/chat/chat.go b/pkg/tui/views/chat/chat.go
index 699c4f2..2465c4f 100644
--- a/pkg/tui/views/chat/chat.go
+++ b/pkg/tui/views/chat/chat.go
@@ -16,11 +16,6 @@ import (
 
 // custom tea.Msg types
 type (
-	// sent when a conversation is (re)loaded
-	msgConversationLoaded struct {
-		conversation *api.Conversation
-		rootMessages []api.Message
-	}
 	// sent when a new conversation title generated
 	msgConversationTitleGenerated string
 	// sent when the conversation has been persisted, triggers a reload of contents
@@ -30,7 +25,10 @@ type (
 		messages     []api.Message
 	}
 	// sent when a conversation's messages are laoded
-	msgMessagesLoaded []api.Message
+	msgConversationMessagesLoaded struct {
+		messages []api.Message
+		rootMessages []api.Message
+	}
 	// a special case of common.MsgError that stops the response waiting animation
 	msgChatResponseError error
 	// sent on each chunk received from LLM
diff --git a/pkg/tui/views/chat/cmds.go b/pkg/tui/views/chat/cmds.go
index ae1bf74..4fccbf0 100644
--- a/pkg/tui/views/chat/cmds.go
+++ b/pkg/tui/views/chat/cmds.go
@@ -21,7 +21,13 @@ func (m *Model) loadConversationMessages() tea.Cmd {
 		if err != nil {
 			return shared.MsgError(err)
 		}
-		return msgMessagesLoaded(messages)
+		rootMessages, err := m.App.LoadConversationRootMessages()
+		if err != nil {
+			return shared.MsgError(err)
+		}
+		return msgConversationMessagesLoaded{
+			messages, rootMessages,
+		}
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/tui/views/chat/update.go b/pkg/tui/views/chat/update.go
index 87ff9da..fb87285 100644
--- a/pkg/tui/views/chat/update.go
+++ b/pkg/tui/views/chat/update.go
@@ -94,17 +94,11 @@ func (m Model) Update(msg tea.Msg) (shared.ViewModel, tea.Cmd) {
 				}
 			}
 		}
-	case msgConversationLoaded:
-		m.App.Conversation = msg.conversation
+	case msgConversationMessagesLoaded:
 		m.App.RootMessages = msg.rootMessages
-		m.selectedMessage = -1
-		if len(m.App.RootMessages) > 0 {
-			cmds = append(cmds, m.loadConversationMessages())
-		}
-	case msgMessagesLoaded:
-		m.App.Messages = msg
+		m.App.Messages = msg.messages
 		if m.selectedMessage == -1 {
-			m.selectedMessage = len(msg) - 1
+			m.selectedMessage = len(msg.messages) - 1
 		} else {
 			m.selectedMessage = min(m.selectedMessage, len(m.App.Messages))
 		}