diff --git a/core/modules/field/modules/field_sql_storage/field_sql_storage.module b/core/modules/field/modules/field_sql_storage/field_sql_storage.module
index fd2f52c25674b192165059258ffe8568770636ec..bd403d68f4c9fee2e3914dde47c1af471965fcf8 100644
--- a/core/modules/field/modules/field_sql_storage/field_sql_storage.module
+++ b/core/modules/field/modules/field_sql_storage/field_sql_storage.module
@@ -398,11 +398,13 @@ function field_sql_storage_field_storage_write($entity_type, $entity, $op, $fiel
       // Delete all language codes if $entity->$field_name is empty.
       $langcodes = !empty($entity->$field_name) ? $field_langcodes : $all_langcodes;
       if ($langcodes) {
-        db_delete($table_name)
-          ->condition('entity_type', $entity_type)
-          ->condition('entity_id', $id)
-          ->condition('langcode', $langcodes, 'IN')
-          ->execute();
+        if (!property_exists($entity, 'isDefaultVersion') || !empty($entity->isDefaultVersion)) {
+          db_delete($table_name)
+            ->condition('entity_type', $entity_type)
+            ->condition('entity_id', $id)
+            ->condition('langcode', $langcodes, 'IN')
+            ->execute();
+        }
         db_delete($revision_name)
           ->condition('entity_type', $entity_type)
           ->condition('entity_id', $id)
@@ -451,7 +453,11 @@ function field_sql_storage_field_storage_write($entity_type, $entity, $op, $fiel
 
     // Execute the query if we have values to insert.
     if ($do_insert) {
-      $query->execute();
+      // Only overwrite the field's base table if saving the default version
+      // of an entity.
+      if (!property_exists($entity, 'isDefaultVersion') || !empty($entity->isDefaultVersion)) {
+        $query->execute();
+      }
       $revision_query->execute();
     }
   }
diff --git a/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/Node.php b/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/Node.php
index cee6967b0c1b74ad111e085095fb882625e3a254..539af92e6147d16f6cbeafbb47c1d6a6016b6534 100644
--- a/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/Node.php
+++ b/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/Node.php
@@ -22,6 +22,15 @@ class Node extends Entity {
   public $nid;
 
   /**
+   * The default node revision indicator.
+   *
+   * Only default revisions are saved to the node table.
+   *
+   * @var boolean
+   */
+  public $isDefaultVersion = TRUE;
+
+  /**
    * The node revision ID.
    *
    * @var integer
diff --git a/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/NodeStorageController.php b/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/NodeStorageController.php
index 0fa7b3387dcf31e082328c1cc13652b0e2435d53..7e14fc7f5c3d7bf38e2f3944c8052052534cf965 100644
--- a/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/NodeStorageController.php
+++ b/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/NodeStorageController.php
@@ -100,7 +100,19 @@ class NodeStorageController extends DatabaseStorageController {
       }
       else {
         $op = 'update';
-        $return = drupal_write_record($this->entityInfo['base table'], $entity, $this->idKey);
+
+        // Update the base node table, but only if this revision is marked as
+        // the default version.
+        if ($entity->isDefaultVersion) {
+          $return = drupal_write_record($this->entityInfo['base table'], $entity, $this->idKey);
+        }
+        else {
+          // @todo, should a different value be returned when saving an entity
+          // with $isDefaultVersion = FALSE?
+          $return = FALSE;
+        }
+
+
       }
 
       if ($this->revisionKey) {
@@ -139,10 +151,12 @@ class NodeStorageController extends DatabaseStorageController {
 
     if (empty($entity->{$this->revisionKey}) || !empty($entity->revision)) {
       drupal_write_record($this->revisionTable, $record);
-      db_update($this->entityInfo['base table'])
-        ->fields(array($this->revisionKey => $record->{$this->revisionKey}))
-        ->condition($this->idKey, $entity->{$this->idKey})
-        ->execute();
+      if ($entity->isDefaultVersion) {
+        db_update($this->entityInfo['base table'])
+          ->fields(array($this->revisionKey => $record->{$this->revisionKey}))
+          ->condition($this->idKey, $entity->{$this->idKey})
+          ->execute();
+      }
     }
     else {
       drupal_write_record($this->revisionTable, $record, $this->revisionKey);
@@ -263,7 +277,13 @@ class NodeStorageController extends DatabaseStorageController {
    * Overrides Drupal\entity\DatabaseStorageController::postSave().
    */
   function postSave(EntityInterface $node, $update) {
-    node_access_acquire_grants($node, $update);
+
+    // Update the node access table for this node, but only if it is the 
+    // default revision. There's no need to delete existing records if the node
+    // is new.
+    if ($node->isDefaultVersion) {
+      node_access_acquire_grants($node, $update);
+    }
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/Tests/NodeRevisionsTest.php b/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/Tests/NodeRevisionsTest.php
index 3cba15d075d282586a9fd6274616267d77b46ab5..03d9a2db129fc401e7adc8ce026bea83146afa34 100644
--- a/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/Tests/NodeRevisionsTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/node/lib/Drupal/node/Tests/NodeRevisionsTest.php
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ class NodeRevisionsTest extends NodeTestBase {
 
     // Create and login user.
     $web_user = $this->drupalCreateUser(array('view revisions', 'revert revisions', 'edit any page content',
-                                               'delete revisions', 'delete any page content'));
+                                               'delete revisions', 'delete any page content', 'administer nodes'));
     $this->drupalLogin($web_user);
 
     // Create initial node.
@@ -112,6 +112,44 @@ class NodeRevisionsTest extends NodeTestBase {
       '%title' => $nodes[2]->title,
       '%revision-date' => format_date($old_revision_date),
     )));
+
+    // Make a new revision and set it to not be default.
+    // This will create a "forward revision."
+    $edit = array();
+    $langcode = LANGUAGE_NOT_SPECIFIED;
+    $new_body = $this->randomName();
+    $edit["body[$langcode][0][value]"] = $new_body;
+    // Save this as a forward revision.
+    $edit["revision"] = TRUE;
+    $edit["isDefaultVersion"] = FALSE;
+    $this->drupalPost("node/$node->nid/edit", $edit, t('Save'));
+    $this->drupalGet("node/$node->nid");
+    $this->assertNoText($new_body, t('Forward revision body text is not present on default version of node.'));
+
+    // Get the highest vid for this node.
+    $versions = db_select('node_revision', 'nr')
+      ->fields('nr', array('vid'))
+      ->condition('nid', $node->nid)
+      ->orderBy('nr.vid', 'DESC')
+      ->range(0,1)
+      ->execute()
+      ->fetchCol();
+
+    $forward_revision_vid = $versions[0];
+
+    // Verify that the new body text is present on the forward revision.
+    $this->drupalGet("node/$node->nid/revisions/" . $forward_revision_vid . "/view");
+    $this->assertText($new_body, t('Forward revision body text is present on forward version of node.'));
+
+    // Verify that the forward revision vid is greater than the default
+    // revision vid.
+    $default_revision = db_select('node', 'n')
+      ->fields('n', array('vid'))
+      ->condition('nid', $node->nid)
+      ->execute()
+      ->fetchCol();
+    $default_revision_vid = $default_revision[0];
+    $this->assertTrue($forward_revision_vid > $default_revision_vid, 'Forward revision vid is greater than default revision vid.');
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/modules/node/node.pages.inc b/core/modules/node/node.pages.inc
index 5d60f7c7af591b7473e654ba1bb43cface39fed9..9355b129c5a2e71363f822114f234ec2ab73770d 100644
--- a/core/modules/node/node.pages.inc
+++ b/core/modules/node/node.pages.inc
@@ -239,6 +239,18 @@ function node_form($form, &$form_state, Node $node) {
     '#default_value' => $node->revision,
     '#access' => user_access('administer nodes'),
   );
+  $form['revision_information']['isDefaultVersion'] = array(
+    '#type' => 'checkbox',
+    '#title' => t('Set as default revision'),
+    '#default_value' => 1,
+    '#access' => user_access('administer nodes'),
+    '#states' => array(
+      'visible' => array(
+        ':input[name="revision"]' => array('checked' => TRUE),
+      ),
+    ),
+  );
+
   // Check the revision log checkbox when the log textarea is filled in.
   // This must not happen if "Create new revision" is enabled by default, since
   // the state would auto-disable the checkbox otherwise.
diff --git a/core/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module b/core/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module
index ddc84fe576c16d2aeb638823e932f537df1f2413..63dad7c895d38096303a30a482f1defd5b03984f 100644
--- a/core/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module
+++ b/core/modules/taxonomy/taxonomy.module
@@ -1585,7 +1585,7 @@ function taxonomy_build_node_index($node) {
     }
   }
   // We only maintain the taxonomy index for published nodes.
-  if ($status) {
+  if ($status && !empty($node->isDefaultVersion)) {
     // Collect a unique list of all the term IDs from all node fields.
     $tid_all = array();
     foreach (field_info_instances('node', $node->type) as $instance) {