diff --git a/command/format/plan.go b/command/format/plan.go
index a2a49c303..e02190f9e 100644
--- a/command/format/plan.go
+++ b/command/format/plan.go
@@ -91,6 +91,8 @@ func NewPlan(changes *plans.Changes) *Plan {
 		}
 
 		switch rc.Action {
+		case plans.NoOp:
+			continue
 		case plans.Create:
 			if dataSource {
 				// Use "refresh" as the action for display, but core
diff --git a/helper/plugin/grpc_provider.go b/helper/plugin/grpc_provider.go
index 0c8417460..be3bbc61f 100644
--- a/helper/plugin/grpc_provider.go
+++ b/helper/plugin/grpc_provider.go
@@ -386,6 +386,15 @@ func (s *GRPCProviderServer) PlanResourceChange(_ context.Context, req *proto.Pl
 		return resp, nil
 	}
 
+	if diff == nil {
+		// schema.Provider.Diff returns nil if it ends up making a diff with
+		// no changes, but our new interface wants us to return an actual
+		// change description that _shows_ there are no changes, so we need
+		// to synthesize one here.
+		resp.PlannedState = req.PriorState
+		return resp, nil
+	}
+
 	// now we need to apply the diff to the prior state, so get the planned state
 	plannedStateVal, err := schema.ApplyDiff(priorStateVal, diff, block)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/plugin/grpc_provider.go b/plugin/grpc_provider.go
index 6d8cfe65c..3b066258d 100644
--- a/plugin/grpc_provider.go
+++ b/plugin/grpc_provider.go
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"sync"
 
+	"github.com/zclconf/go-cty/cty"
+
 	plugin "github.com/hashicorp/go-plugin"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/plugin/convert"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/plugin/proto"
@@ -398,14 +400,17 @@ func (p *GRPCProvider) ApplyResourceChange(r providers.ApplyResourceChangeReques
 
 	resp.Private = protoResp.Private
 
-	state, err := msgpack.Unmarshal(protoResp.NewState.Msgpack, resSchema.Block.ImpliedType())
-	if err != nil {
-		resp.Diagnostics = resp.Diagnostics.Append(err)
-		return resp
+	if protoResp.NewState != nil {
+		state, err := msgpack.Unmarshal(protoResp.NewState.Msgpack, resSchema.Block.ImpliedType())
+		if err != nil {
+			resp.Diagnostics = resp.Diagnostics.Append(err)
+			return resp
+		}
+		resp.NewState = state
+	} else {
+		resp.NewState = cty.NullVal(resSchema.Block.ImpliedType())
 	}
 
-	resp.NewState = state
-
 	return resp
 }
 
diff --git a/terraform/transform_diff.go b/terraform/transform_diff.go
index 67a94fed9..f22c17f7b 100644
--- a/terraform/transform_diff.go
+++ b/terraform/transform_diff.go
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ func (t *DiffTransformer) Transform(g *Graph) error {
 		// other actions.
 		var update, delete bool
 		switch rc.Action {
+		case plans.NoOp:
+			continue
 		case plans.Delete:
 			delete = true
 		case plans.Replace: