diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 683f4cd..587ee38 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ point you can forward the document on to your lightweight markup processor of
 choice. You might even want to use some the meta-data to configure the behavior
 of your lightweight markup processor.
 
-YAML Meta-Data (not yet implemented)
+YAML Meta-Data
 --------------
 
 Given a document that contains YAML style meta-data, simply pass it to
@@ -32,9 +32,13 @@ doc, data = get_data(doc)
 
 The `docdata.yamldata.get_data` function will return a tuple which contains the
 document with the meta-data removed and the meta-data as returned by the YAML
-parser. As YAML provides for and recognizes various types out-of-the-box,
-no additional features need to be provided. The document can now be passed to
-your lightweight markup processor of choice.
+parser. Note that if the YAML root data structure parsed by YAML is not a
+dictionary, it is assumed that no data is defined, the YAML block is not
+removed from the document, and an empty dict is returned as data.
+
+As YAML provides for and recognizes various types out-of-the-box, no additional
+features need to be provided. The document can now be passed to your lightweight
+markup processor of choice.
 
 MultiMarkdown Meta-Data
 -----------------------
diff --git a/docdata/yamldata.py b/docdata/yamldata.py
index 5b6b38a..70e62ca 100644
--- a/docdata/yamldata.py
+++ b/docdata/yamldata.py
@@ -6,7 +6,15 @@
 """
 
 
+import re
 import yaml
+try:
+    from yaml import CSafeLoader as SafeLoader
+except ImportError:
+    from yaml import SafeLoader
+
+
+BLOCK_RE = re.compile(r'^-{3}[ \t]*\n(.*?\n)(?:\.{3}|-{3})[ \t]*\n', re.UNICODE|re.DOTALL)
 
 
 def get_data(doc):
@@ -15,4 +23,15 @@ def get_data(doc):
 
     Returns a tuple of document and data.
     """
-    pass  # TODO: implement this
\ No newline at end of file
+    data = {}
+    m = BLOCK_RE.match(doc)
+    if m:
+        try:
+            data = yaml.load(m.group(1), SafeLoader)
+            if isinstance(data, dict):
+                doc = doc[m.end():].lstrip('\n')
+            else:
+                data = {}
+        except:
+            pass
+    return doc, data
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/test_yamldata.py b/tests/test_yamldata.py
index e69de29..873867f 100644
--- a/tests/test_yamldata.py
+++ b/tests/test_yamldata.py
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+import unittest
+import datetime
+from docdata import yamldata
+
+class TestYamlData(unittest.TestCase):
+    def test_yaml_data(self):
+        doc = '''---
+Author: John Doe
+Date: 2015-05-08 14:15:16
+Integer: 0x2A
+---
+
+Document content.
+'''
+        self.assertEqual(
+            yamldata.get_data(doc),
+            (
+                'Document content.\n',
+                {
+                    'Author': 'John Doe',
+                    'Date': datetime.datetime(2015, 5, 8, 14, 15, 16),
+                    'Integer': 42
+                }
+            )
+        )
+
+    def test_end_deliminator(self):
+        doc = '''---
+Author: John Doe
+Date: 2015-05-08
+Integer: 42
+...
+Document content.
+'''
+        self.assertEqual(
+            yamldata.get_data(doc),
+            (
+                'Document content.\n',
+                {
+                    'Author': 'John Doe',
+                    'Date': datetime.date(2015, 5, 8),
+                    'Integer': 42
+                }
+            )
+        )
+
+    def test_bad_deliminator(self):
+        doc = '''---
+Author: John Doe
+Date: 2015-05-08
+Integer: 42
+-.-
+Document content.
+'''
+        self.assertEqual(
+            yamldata.get_data(doc),
+            (doc, {})
+        )
+
+    def test_blank_first_line(self):
+        doc = '''
+---
+Author: John Doe
+Date: 2015-05-08
+Integer: 42
+---
+Document content.
+'''
+        self.assertEqual(
+            yamldata.get_data(doc),
+            (doc, {})
+        )
+
+    def test_bad_yaml(self):
+        doc = '''---
+foo
+...
+Document content.
+'''
+        self.assertEqual(
+            yamldata.get_data(doc),
+            (doc, {})
+        )
+
+    def test_no_yaml(self):
+        doc = 'Document content.'
+        self.assertEqual(
+            yamldata.get_data(doc),
+            (doc, {})
+        )
\ No newline at end of file