diff --git a/frontend_tests/node_tests/message_fetch.js b/frontend_tests/node_tests/message_fetch.js
index b06f4f1ea1..f4e62f81aa 100644
--- a/frontend_tests/node_tests/message_fetch.js
+++ b/frontend_tests/node_tests/message_fetch.js
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ function message_range(start, end) {
 const initialize_data = {
     initial_fetch: {
         req: {
-            anchor: 444,
+            anchor: 'first_unread',
             num_before: 200,
             num_after: 200,
             client_gravatar: true,
diff --git a/static/js/message_fetch.js b/static/js/message_fetch.js
index b2ff38e282..a296004ed7 100644
--- a/static/js/message_fetch.js
+++ b/static/js/message_fetch.js
@@ -402,7 +402,9 @@ exports.initialize = function () {
         // near: narrow query, we want to select a specific message.
         anchor = page_params.initial_pointer;
     } else {
-        anchor = page_params.pointer;
+        // Otherwise, we should just use the first unread message in
+        // the user's unmuted history as our anchor.
+        anchor = "first_unread";
     }
     exports.load_messages({
         anchor: anchor,