diff --git a/core/src/ui/active.rs b/core/src/ui/active.rs
index 4ac8e47..f6e9710 100644
--- a/core/src/ui/active.rs
+++ b/core/src/ui/active.rs
@@ -74,4 +74,12 @@ impl ActiveData {
     pub fn holds_at(&self, px: crate::PxVec2) -> bool {
         self.holds[0].contains(px.x) && self.holds[1].contains(px.y)
     }
+
+    /// Whether what it answered still stands for a box of these pixel
+    /// lengths -- the box it was asked in, where `holds` is about the box its
+    /// answer then chose.
+    pub fn answers_at(&self, px: crate::PxVec2) -> bool {
+        let (_, holds) = self.answer;
+        holds[0].contains(px.x) && holds[1].contains(px.y)
+    }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/ui/render_state.rs b/core/src/ui/render_state.rs
index 46a27a7..cce4a39 100644
--- a/core/src/ui/render_state.rs
+++ b/core/src/ui/render_state.rs
@@ -87,12 +87,11 @@ impl UiRenderState {
     /// retained entry at all.
     ///
     /// The root is the only widget a resize marks, and only where the new
-    /// output is outside what its answer holds for. Its range is the
+    /// output falls outside what its answer holds for: that range is the
     /// intersection of everything under it, so admitting the new output says
-    /// the whole tree still stands -- and nothing above the root moved, the
-    /// window being no entry to rewrite. Where it does not admit it, the
-    /// ordinary bottom-up walk draws the root and `Holds` decides, per widget
-    /// and as the walk reaches it, how far down the new length reaches.
+    /// the whole tree still stands. Where it does not, the ordinary walk
+    /// draws the root, and each widget's own range decides how far down the
+    /// new length reaches.
     pub fn resize(&mut self, size: impl Into<Vec2>, widgets: &mut Widgets) {
         let size = PxVec2::from_f32(size.into());
         if size == self.output_size {
@@ -101,12 +100,11 @@ impl UiRenderState {
         self.output_size = size;
         self.resized = true;
         let Some(root) = self.old_root else { return };
-        let Some(active) = self.active.get(&root) else {
-            return;
-        };
-        let px = active.given_len.to_px(size);
-        let holds = active.answer.1;
-        if !(holds[0].contains(px.x) && holds[1].contains(px.y)) {
+        let stands = self
+            .active
+            .get(&root)
+            .is_some_and(|active| active.answers_at(active.given_len.to_px(size)));
+        if !stands {
             widgets.needs_redraw.insert(root);
         }
     }
@@ -204,10 +202,9 @@ impl UiRenderState {
             diag::draw_request(id, info.parent, region, info.px, info.region_node);
         }
         let align = rsc.widgets().alignment(id);
-        // Only the widget's own mark is asked about. Nothing it measured can
-        // be dirty while it draws: layout is one bottom-up walk, so anything
-        // deeper has already settled or deferred to its own parent, and a
-        // deferred one leaves that parent marked.
+        // Nothing this widget measured can be dirty while it draws: layout is
+        // one bottom-up walk, so anything deeper has settled or deferred to
+        // its own parent, and a deferred one leaves that parent marked.
         let stale = rsc.widgets().needs_redraw.contains(&id);
         let replace_answer = self.answer_invalid.remove(&id) || (self.replace_answers && stale);
         let retained = match replace_answer || stale {
@@ -256,7 +253,18 @@ impl UiRenderState {
         active.answer = settled;
         active.decided = info.decided;
         active.own_align = align;
-        active.depth = info.depth;
+        // A subtree can be reused whole under a different parent -- same box,
+        // same layer, same region node -- and nothing in the drawing says it
+        // changed hands. Two things read who its parent is: a deferral, which
+        // marks whoever has it to draw, and the old parent's list of children,
+        // which its next draw undraws whatever is missing from.
+        let old_parent = std::mem::replace(&mut active.parent, info.parent);
+        if old_parent != info.parent
+            && let Some(old_parent) = old_parent
+            && let Some(old_parent) = self.active.get_mut(&old_parent)
+        {
+            old_parent.children.retain(|child| *child != id);
+        }
         settled
     }
 
@@ -514,8 +522,7 @@ impl UiRenderState {
         {
             return None;
         }
-        let (size, holds) = active.answer;
-        (holds[0].contains(info.px.x) && holds[1].contains(info.px.y)).then_some((size, holds))
+        active.answers_at(info.px).then_some(active.answer)
     }
 
     /// The pixel lengths of the box a widget was given and of the box it was
@@ -629,12 +636,12 @@ impl UiRenderState {
                 self.remap_subtree(id, &remap, info.parent_move, rsc);
             }
         }
+        self.redepth(id, info.depth);
         let active = self.active.get_mut(&id).unwrap();
         active.region = region;
         active.given = region;
         active.given_len = info.given_len;
         active.offer_len = info.offer_len;
-        active.depth = info.depth;
         #[cfg(feature = "layout-diagnostics")]
         {
             match (moved, has_region_node) {
@@ -658,6 +665,24 @@ impl UiRenderState {
         Some(answer)
     }
 
+    /// A reused subtree keeps its shape, so every widget in it moves by the
+    /// same amount -- and where the top of it did not move, none of it did,
+    /// which is what makes this free in the ordinary case.
+    fn redepth(&mut self, id: WidgetId, depth: usize) {
+        let Some(active) = self.active.get_mut(&id) else {
+            return;
+        };
+        if active.depth == depth {
+            return;
+        }
+        active.depth = depth;
+        let children = active.children.len();
+        for index in 0..children {
+            let child = self.active[&id].children[index];
+            self.redepth(child, depth + 1);
+        }
+    }
+
     /// Re-expresses an ordinary retained subtree in a new parent region.
     /// An independently movable descendant needs only its own region changed;
     /// its contents stay in that region's coordinate space.
diff --git a/tests/cases/retained.rs b/tests/cases/retained.rs
index 06dcd72..98368b9 100644
--- a/tests/cases/retained.rs
+++ b/tests/cases/retained.rs
@@ -628,3 +628,112 @@ fn a_masked_widget_redrawn_on_its_own_sets_its_mask_again() {
     h.frame();
     assert_corners!(h, inner, (100, 0), (400, 200));
 }
+
+/// The two spans a subtree changes hands between, and the branch that is not
+/// in the tree yet -- kept alive by the test until it is.
+struct Handover {
+    leaf: WidgetId,
+    first: WeakWidget<Span>,
+    second: WeakWidget<Span>,
+    root: WeakWidget<Span>,
+    spare: StrongWidget,
+}
+
+/// A subtree that changes hands while its box does not move, so nothing about
+/// reusing its drawing says it changed parents. `deeper` puts a span between
+/// the root and `second`, so it changes depth by changing hands as well.
+fn plant_handover(h: &mut Harness, moved: bool, deeper: bool, width: f32) -> Handover {
+    let leaf = rect(Color::RED).add(&mut h.rsc);
+    let sized = leaf.width(width).add(&mut h.rsc);
+    let holder = (sized,).span(Dir::RIGHT).add(&mut h.rsc);
+    let first = Span {
+        children: match moved {
+            true => Vec::new(),
+            false => vec![holder.add_strong(&mut h.rsc)],
+        },
+        dir: Dir::RIGHT,
+        gap: Px::ZERO,
+    }
+    .add(&mut h.rsc);
+    let second = Span {
+        children: match moved {
+            true => vec![holder.add_strong(&mut h.rsc)],
+            false => Vec::new(),
+        },
+        dir: Dir::RIGHT,
+        gap: Px::ZERO,
+    }
+    .add(&mut h.rsc);
+    let branch = match deeper {
+        true => (second,).span(Dir::RIGHT).add_strong(&mut h.rsc),
+        false => second.add_strong(&mut h.rsc),
+    };
+    let (in_tree, spare) = match moved {
+        true => (branch, first.add_strong(&mut h.rsc)),
+        false => (first.add_strong(&mut h.rsc), branch),
+    };
+    let root = Span {
+        children: vec![in_tree],
+        dir: Dir::RIGHT,
+        gap: Px::ZERO,
+    }
+    .add(&mut h.rsc);
+    h.state.root = Some(root.add_strong(&mut h.rsc));
+    Handover {
+        leaf: sized.id(),
+        first,
+        second,
+        root,
+        spare,
+    }
+}
+
+/// Moves the subtree and swaps the branch it sits in for the one it left.
+fn hand_over(h: &mut Harness, tree: Handover) -> WidgetId {
+    let holder = h.rsc[tree.first].children.remove(0);
+    h.rsc[tree.second].children.push(holder);
+    h.rsc[tree.root].children.clear();
+    h.rsc[tree.root].children.push(tree.spare);
+    h.frame();
+    tree.leaf
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn a_subtree_that_changed_parents_is_not_undrawn_by_the_one_it_left() {
+    let mut warm = Harness::new((400, 200));
+    let tree = plant_handover(&mut warm, false, false, 40.0);
+    warm.frame();
+    let leaf = hand_over(&mut warm, tree);
+
+    let mut cold = Harness::new((400, 200));
+    let grown = plant_handover(&mut cold, true, false, 40.0);
+    cold.frame();
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        warm.region(&leaf),
+        cold.region(&grown.leaf),
+        "the span it left still listed it and undrew it"
+    );
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn a_subtree_that_changed_parents_settles_at_the_depth_it_moved_to() {
+    let mut warm = Harness::new((400, 200));
+    let tree = plant_handover(&mut warm, false, true, 40.0);
+    warm.frame();
+    let leaf = hand_over(&mut warm, tree);
+    // After it has changed hands, so what has to reach the new parent is a
+    // change made under the subtree it now holds.
+    warm.set_len(leaf, Axis::X, LayoutLen::px(90.0));
+    warm.frame();
+
+    let mut cold = Harness::new((400, 200));
+    let grown = plant_handover(&mut cold, true, true, 90.0);
+    cold.frame();
+
+    assert_eq!(
+        warm.region(&leaf),
+        cold.region(&grown.leaf),
+        "the span it moved to is the one the change has to reach"
+    );
+}