diff --git a/lib/sync.js b/lib/sync.js
index ce12a6a6..2301f8d1 100644
--- a/lib/sync.js
+++ b/lib/sync.js
@@ -164,10 +164,12 @@ module.exports = function (x, options) {
         var dirs = nodeModulesPaths(start, opts, x);
         for (var i = 0; i < dirs.length; i++) {
             var dir = dirs[i];
-            var m = loadAsFileSync(path.join(dir, '/', x));
-            if (m) return m;
-            var n = loadAsDirectorySync(path.join(dir, '/', x));
-            if (n) return n;
+            if (isDirectory(dir)) {
+                var m = loadAsFileSync(path.join(dir, '/', x));
+                if (m) return m;
+                var n = loadAsDirectorySync(path.join(dir, '/', x));
+                if (n) return n;
+            }
         }
     }
 };
diff --git a/test/mock_sync.js b/test/mock_sync.js
index 907660fd..50812968 100644
--- a/test/mock_sync.js
+++ b/test/mock_sync.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ test('mock', function (t) {
 
     var dirs = {};
     dirs[path.resolve('/foo/bar')] = true;
+    dirs[path.resolve('/foo/node_modules')] = true;
 
     function opts(basedir) {
         return {
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@ test('mock package', function (t) {
 
     var dirs = {};
     dirs[path.resolve('/foo')] = true;
+    dirs[path.resolve('/foo/node_modules')] = true;
 
     function opts(basedir) {
         return {