diff --git a/src/options_description.cpp b/src/options_description.cpp
index 697f02e..6beb293 100644
--- a/src/options_description.cpp
+++ b/src/options_description.cpp
@@ -424,6 +424,7 @@ namespace boost { namespace program_options {
                     if (first_line)
                     {
                         indent += par_indent;
+                        line_length -= par_indent; // there's less to work with now
                         first_line = false;
                     }
 
diff --git a/test/options_description_test.cpp b/test/options_description_test.cpp
index d05f366..e7fdeb0 100644
--- a/test/options_description_test.cpp
+++ b/test/options_description_test.cpp
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ void test_formatting()
         "foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo"
         "foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo")
       ("list", new untyped_value(),
-         "a list:\n  \t"
+         "a list:\n      \t"
              "item1, item2, item3, item4, item5, item6, item7, item8, item9, "
              "item10, item11, item12, item13, item14, item15, item16, item17, item18")
       ("well_formated", new untyped_value(), 
@@ -93,9 +93,9 @@ void test_formatting()
 "                        foofoo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo foo \n"
 "                        foo\n"
 "  --list arg            a list:\n"
-"                          item1, item2, item3, item4, item5, item6, item7, \n"
-"                          item8, item9, item10, item11, item12, item13, item14, \n"
-"                          item15, item16, item17, item18\n"
+"                              item1, item2, item3, item4, item5, item6, item7, \n"
+"                              item8, item9, item10, item11, item12, item13, \n"
+"                              item14, item15, item16, item17, item18\n"
 "  --well_formated arg   As you can see this is a very well formatted option \n"
 "                        description.\n"
 "                        You can do this for example:\n"