diff --git a/src/service.test.ts b/src/service.test.ts
index d89e0654e..7a367c327 100644
--- a/src/service.test.ts
+++ b/src/service.test.ts
@@ -173,6 +173,65 @@ await test('destroy', async (t) => {
     assert.equal(db.data[COMMENTS].length, 0)
   })
 
+  await t.test('keeps items whose foreign key was already null', async () => {
+    db.data = {
+      posts: [post1, post2],
+      comments: [
+        { id: '1', postId: post1.id },
+        { id: '2', postId: null },
+        { id: '3', postId: post2.id },
+      ],
+    }
+
+    await service.destroyById(POSTS, post1.id, [COMMENTS])
+
+    assert.deepEqual(db.data[COMMENTS], [
+      { id: '2', postId: null },
+      { id: '3', postId: post2.id },
+    ])
+  })
+
+  await t.test('deletes dependents of dependents', async () => {
+    const remaining = {
+      villages: [{ id: '2' }],
+      houses: [{ id: '2', villageId: '2' }],
+      citizens: [{ id: '2', houseId: '2' }],
+    }
+
+    for (const dependents of [
+      ['houses', 'citizens'],
+      ['citizens', 'houses'],
+    ]) {
+      db.data = {
+        villages: [{ id: '1' }, { id: '2' }],
+        houses: [
+          { id: '1', villageId: '1' },
+          { id: '2', villageId: '2' },
+        ],
+        citizens: [
+          { id: '1', houseId: '1' },
+          { id: '2', houseId: '2' },
+        ],
+      }
+
+      await service.destroyById('villages', '1', dependents)
+
+      assert.deepEqual(db.data, remaining, `dependents listed as ${dependents.join(',')}`)
+    }
+  })
+
+  await t.test('nullifies foreign keys pointing at deleted dependents', async () => {
+    db.data = {
+      villages: [{ id: '1' }],
+      houses: [{ id: '1', villageId: '1' }],
+      pets: [{ id: '1', houseId: '1' }],
+    }
+
+    await service.destroyById('villages', '1', ['houses'])
+
+    assert.deepEqual(db.data['pets'], [{ id: '1', houseId: null }])
+  })
+
   await t.test('ignores unknown resources', async () => {
     assert.equal(await service.destroyById(UNKNOWN_RESOURCE, post1.id), undefined)
     assert.equal(await service.destroyById(POSTS, UNKNOWN_ID), undefined)
diff --git a/src/service.ts b/src/service.ts
index ad06bfa8f..77693c403 100644
--- a/src/service.ts
+++ b/src/service.ts
@@ -46,17 +46,36 @@ function embed(db: Low<Data>, name: string, item: Item, related: string): Item {
   return { ...item, [related]: relatedItems }
 }
 
-function nullifyForeignKey(db: Low<Data>, name: string, id: string) {
-  const foreignKey = `${inflection.singularize(name)}Id`
+function foreignKeyOf(name: string): string {
+  return `${inflection.singularize(name)}Id`
+}
+
+// Ids removed from each resource, so that a dependent can be matched against
+// every resource deleted so far and not just against the requested one
+type DeletedIds = Map<string, Set<string>>
+
+function isDependentOf(item: Item, deleted: DeletedIds): boolean {
+  for (const [name, ids] of deleted) {
+    const value = item[foreignKeyOf(name)]
+    if (typeof value === 'string' && ids.has(value)) return true
+  }
+
+  return false
+}
 
+function nullifyForeignKeys(db: Low<Data>, deleted: DeletedIds) {
   Object.entries(db.data).forEach(([key, items]) => {
-    // Skip
-    if (key === name) return
+    if (!Array.isArray(items)) return
+
+    for (const [name, ids] of deleted) {
+      // Skip
+      if (key === name) continue
 
-    // Nullify
-    if (Array.isArray(items)) {
+      // Nullify
+      const foreignKey = foreignKeyOf(name)
       items.forEach((item) => {
-        if (item[foreignKey] === id) {
+        const value = item[foreignKey]
+        if (typeof value === 'string' && ids.has(value)) {
           item[foreignKey] = null
         }
       })
@@ -64,18 +83,34 @@ function nullifyForeignKey(db: Low<Data>, name: string, id: string) {
   })
 }
 
-function deleteDependents(db: Low<Data>, name: string, dependents: string[]) {
-  const foreignKey = `${inflection.singularize(name)}Id`
+function deleteDependents(db: Low<Data>, name: string, deleted: DeletedIds, dependents: string[]) {
+  // A dependent can itself be the parent of another one, so keep going until
+  // nothing new is deleted. A chain can be at most as deep as the number of
+  // dependents, and this makes the result independent of the order they are
+  // listed in.
+  for (let pass = 0; pass < dependents.length; pass++) {
+    let deletedAny = false
 
-  Object.entries(db.data).forEach(([key, items]) => {
-    // Skip
-    if (key === name || !dependents.includes(key)) return
+    for (const dependent of dependents) {
+      const items = db.data[dependent]
+
+      // Skip
+      if (dependent === name || !Array.isArray(items)) continue
+
+      // Delete items related to an already deleted one
+      const ids = deleted.get(dependent) ?? new Set<string>()
+      db.data[dependent] = items.filter((item) => {
+        if (!isDependentOf(item, deleted)) return true
 
-    // Delete if foreign key is null
-    if (Array.isArray(items)) {
-      db.data[key] = items.filter((item) => item[foreignKey] !== null)
+        deletedAny = true
+        if (typeof item['id'] === 'string') ids.add(item['id'])
+        return false
+      })
+      deleted.set(dependent, ids)
     }
-  })
+
+    if (!deletedAny) break
+  }
 }
 
 export class Service {
@@ -212,9 +247,9 @@ export class Service {
     const index = items.indexOf(item)
     items.splice(index, 1)
 
-    nullifyForeignKey(this.#db, name, id)
-    const dependents = ensureArray(dependent)
-    deleteDependents(this.#db, name, dependents)
+    const deleted: DeletedIds = new Map([[name, new Set([id])]])
+    deleteDependents(this.#db, name, deleted, ensureArray(dependent))
+    nullifyForeignKeys(this.#db, deleted)
 
     await this.#db.write()
     return item