diff --git a/hyde/ext/plugins/depends.py b/hyde/ext/plugins/depends.py
index 70d0fd8..38187a4 100644
--- a/hyde/ext/plugins/depends.py
+++ b/hyde/ext/plugins/depends.py
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ class DependsPlugin(Plugin):
         The dependency can contain the following template variables:
         node, resource, site, context.
 
-        The folloing strings are valid:
+        The following strings are valid:
         '{node.module}/dependencies/{resource.source.name_without_extension}.inc'
         '{context.dependency_folder}/{resource.source.name_without_extension}.{site.meta.depext}'
         """
@@ -35,9 +35,11 @@ class DependsPlugin(Plugin):
         except AttributeError:
             pass
 
-        if not hasattr(resource, 'depends'):
+        if not hasattr(resource, 'depends') or not resource.depends:
             resource.depends = []
-        resource.depends = resource.depends or []
+
+        if isinstance(depends, basestring):
+            depends = [depends]
 
         for dep in depends:
             resource.depends.append(dep.format(node=resource.node,
diff --git a/hyde/generator.py b/hyde/generator.py
index a60e306..69fad92 100644
--- a/hyde/generator.py
+++ b/hyde/generator.py
@@ -112,7 +112,18 @@ class Generator(object):
         """
         Gets the dependencies for a given resource.
         """
-        return self.template.get_dependencies(resource.relative_path)
+        deps = []
+        if hasattr(resource, 'depends'):
+            user_deps = resource.depends
+            for dep in user_deps:
+                deps.append(dep)
+                deps.extend(self.template.get_dependencies(dep))
+
+        deps.extend(self.template.get_dependencies(resource.relative_path))
+        deps = list(set(deps))
+        if None in deps:
+            deps.remove(None)
+        return deps
 
     def has_resource_changed(self, resource):
         """
diff --git a/hyde/tests/ext/test_depends.py b/hyde/tests/ext/test_depends.py
index 65b8ed8..995011f 100644
--- a/hyde/tests/ext/test_depends.py
+++ b/hyde/tests/ext/test_depends.py
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ class TestDepends(object):
         TEST_SITE.make()
         TEST_SITE.parent.child_folder(
                     'sites/test_jinja').copy_contents_to(TEST_SITE)
+        TEST_SITE.parent.child_folder(
+                    'templates/jinja2').copy_contents_to(
+                        TEST_SITE.child_folder('content'))
 
     def tearDown(self):
         TEST_SITE.delete()
@@ -41,9 +44,14 @@ depends: index.html
         gen = Generator(s)
         gen.load_site_if_needed()
         gen.load_template_if_needed()
-        res = s.content.resource_from_relative_path('inc.md')
+        def dateformat(x):
+            return x.strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
+        gen.template.env.filters['dateformat'] = dateformat
+        gen.generate_resource_at_path(inc.name)
+        res = s.content.resource_from_relative_path(inc.name)
+        assert len(res.depends) == 1
+        assert 'index.html' in res.depends
         deps = list(gen.get_dependencies(res))
-
         assert len(deps) == 3
 
         assert 'helpers.html' in deps