diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSet.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSet.java
index 93a8eda8e52b6ed58824838c433db85e4dd0113f..f354f898b0a555400f27ebf8bd75f5fcd871d934 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSet.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSet.java
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package hudson.maven;
 
 import hudson.FilePath;
 import hudson.Launcher;
+import hudson.Util;
 import hudson.triggers.Trigger;
 import hudson.model.AbstractProject;
 import hudson.model.DependencyGraph;
@@ -48,6 +49,8 @@ public class MavenModuleSet extends AbstractProject<MavenModuleSet,MavenModuleSe
      */
     private ModuleName rootModule;
 
+    private String rootPOM;
+
     public MavenModuleSet(String name) {
         super(Hudson.getInstance(),name);
     }
@@ -202,6 +205,15 @@ public class MavenModuleSet extends AbstractProject<MavenModuleSet,MavenModuleSe
         return modules.get(rootModule);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Gets the location of top-level <tt>pom.xml</tt> relative to the workspace root.
+     */
+    public String getRootPOM() {
+        if(rootPOM==null)   return "pom.xml";
+        return rootPOM;
+    }
+
+
     /*package*/ void setRootModule(ModuleName rootModule) throws IOException {
         if(this.rootModule!=null && this.rootModule.equals(rootModule))
             return; // no change
@@ -219,6 +231,9 @@ public class MavenModuleSet extends AbstractProject<MavenModuleSet,MavenModuleSe
         if(!Hudson.adminCheck(req,rsp))
             return;
 
+        rootPOM = Util.fixEmpty(req.getParameter("rootPOM"));
+        if(rootPOM.equals("pom.xml"))   rootPOM=null;   // normalization
+        
         super.doConfigSubmit(req,rsp);
 
         save();
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSetBuild.java b/core/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSetBuild.java
index 95b4c17f8cdfde9f63282cde0df3adc10fc2d0a2..99dd7b8fb38f5dc1482ce8be9e47930d8d61a215 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSetBuild.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSetBuild.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public final class MavenModuleSetBuild extends AbstractBuild<MavenModuleSet,Mave
         protected Result doRun(final BuildListener listener) throws Exception {
             try {
                 listener.getLogger().println("Parsing POMs");
-                List<PomInfo> poms = project.getWorkspace().act(new PomParser(listener));
+                List<PomInfo> poms = project.getWorkspace().act(new PomParser(listener,project.getRootPOM()));
 
                 // update the module list
                 Map<ModuleName,MavenModule> modules = project.modules;
@@ -93,6 +93,9 @@ public final class MavenModuleSetBuild extends AbstractBuild<MavenModuleSet,Mave
                 project.getRootModule().scheduleBuild();
                 
                 return null;
+            } catch (AbortException e) {
+                // error should have been already reported.
+                return Result.FAILURE;
             } catch (IOException e) {
                 e.printStackTrace(listener.error("Failed to parse POMs"));
                 return Result.FAILURE;
@@ -112,14 +115,21 @@ public final class MavenModuleSetBuild extends AbstractBuild<MavenModuleSet,Mave
 
     private static final class PomParser implements FileCallable<List<PomInfo>> {
         private final BuildListener listener;
+        private final String rootPOM;
 
-        public PomParser(BuildListener listener) {
+        public PomParser(BuildListener listener, String rootPOM) {
             this.listener = listener;
+            this.rootPOM = rootPOM;
         }
 
         public List<PomInfo> invoke(File ws, VirtualChannel channel) throws IOException {
-            // TODO: this logic needs to be smarter
-            File pom = new File(ws,"pom.xml");
+            File pom = new File(ws,rootPOM);
+
+            if(!pom.exists()) {
+                listener.getLogger().println("No such file "+pom);
+                listener.getLogger().println("Perhaps you need to specify the correct POM file path in the project configuration?");
+                throw new AbortException();
+            }
 
             try {
                 MavenEmbedder embedder = MavenUtil.createEmbedder(listener);
@@ -146,4 +156,8 @@ public final class MavenModuleSetBuild extends AbstractBuild<MavenModuleSet,Mave
 
         private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
     }
+
+    private static class AbortException extends IOException {
+        private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+    }
 }
diff --git a/core/src/main/resources/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSet/configure.jelly b/core/src/main/resources/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSet/configure.jelly
index ac263b041b219fbd45ce1d37380eb0bed2f32064..c648300f505860651863348e9265e3182b97313d 100644
--- a/core/src/main/resources/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSet/configure.jelly
+++ b/core/src/main/resources/hudson/maven/MavenModuleSet/configure.jelly
@@ -22,6 +22,12 @@
           <st:include page="/hudson/model/BuildAuthorizationToken/config.jelly" />
         </f:section>
 
+        <f:section title="Build">
+          <f:entry title="root POM" help="/help/maven/root-pom.html">
+            <f:textbox name="rootPOM" value="${it.rootPOM}"/>
+          </f:entry>
+        </f:section>
+
         <f:block>
           <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Save" />
         </f:block>
diff --git a/war/resources/help/maven/root-pom.html b/war/resources/help/maven/root-pom.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ebc25cd4cd7568bfd96acee5fe3ae6836ab3cf17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/war/resources/help/maven/root-pom.html
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+<div>
+  If your workspace has the top-level <tt>pom.xml</tt> in somewhere other
+  than the root directory of the workspace, specify the path (relative to
+  the workspace root) here, such as <tt>parent/pom.xml</tt>.
+  <br>
+  If left empty, treated as <tt>pom.xml</tt>
+</div>
\ No newline at end of file