diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index aa947c61..8f596586 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -182,6 +182,19 @@ app.use(session({
 }))
 ```
 
+##### ignoreErrors
+
+Setting `ignoreErrors` as true, any errors while fetching the session from the
+store will be ignored. If the session is not fetched, the `req.session` will be
+undefined. This flag can be used to harden your website against store failures.
+In case of failure, the response will not be HTTP 500 Internal Server Error.
+However your application code needs to be able to gracefully handle a
+non-existing `req.session`.
+
+Furthermore it's inadvisable to add a temporary fake `req.session` object, since
+the connection might fail afterward on the store touch or save calls. As long as
+the `req.session` is undefined, the middleware will not save it in the store.
+
 ##### name
 
 The name of the session ID cookie to set in the response (and read from in the
diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 175fb234..b4e69f79 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -92,6 +92,9 @@ function session(options) {
   // get the session id generate function
   var generateId = opts.genid || generateSessionId
 
+  // ignore errors when store fails
+  var ignoreErrors = !!opts.ignoreErrors
+
   // get the session cookie name
   var name = opts.name || opts.key || 'connect.sid'
 
@@ -463,6 +466,11 @@ function session(options) {
         debug('error %j', err);
 
         if (err.code !== 'ENOENT') {
+          if (ignoreErrors) {
+            debug('ignoring fetch error');
+            return next();
+          }
+
           next(err);
           return;
         }
diff --git a/test/session.js b/test/session.js
index 5f49e352..a3e0f838 100644
--- a/test/session.js
+++ b/test/session.js
@@ -874,6 +874,30 @@ describe('session()', function(){
     });
   });
 
+  describe('ignoreErrors option', function(){
+    it('should work without session on fetch error', function (done) {
+      var store = new session.MemoryStore()
+      var server = createServer({ store: store, ignoreErrors: true }, function (req, res) {
+        res.end('hello, world')
+      })
+
+      store.get = function destroy(sid, callback) {
+        callback(new Error('boom!'))
+      }
+
+      request(server)
+      .get('/')
+      .expect(shouldSetCookie('connect.sid'))
+      .expect(200, 'hello, world', function (err, res) {
+        if (err) return done(err)
+        request(server)
+        .get('/')
+        .set('Cookie', cookie(res))
+        .expect(200, 'hello, world', done)
+      })
+    });
+  });
+
   describe('key option', function(){
     it('should default to "connect.sid"', function(done){
       request(createServer())