diff --git a/src/store.ts b/src/store.ts
index 7288c8f..6d77e3b 100644
--- a/src/store.ts
+++ b/src/store.ts
@@ -516,7 +516,16 @@ export const useStoryStore = create<StoryState>()(
       const startPassage = storyData.passagesById.get(storyData.startNode);
       if (!startPassage) return;
 
+      // Reset renderDeferred before firing beforerestart so we can detect
+      // if a handler called deferRender() during the callback.
+      set((state) => {
+        state.renderDeferred = false;
+      });
+
       fireBeforeRestart();
+
+      const keepDeferred = get().renderDeferred;
+
       resetPRNG();
       resetTriggers();
       const initialVars = deepClone(variableDefaults);
@@ -535,7 +544,9 @@ export const useStoryStore = create<StoryState>()(
         state.historyIndex = 0;
         state.visitCounts = { [startPassage.name]: 1 };
         state.renderCounts = { [startPassage.name]: 1 };
-        state.renderDeferred = false;
+        if (!keepDeferred) {
+          state.renderDeferred = false;
+        }
       });
 
       lastNavigationVars = get().variables;
diff --git a/test/unit/store.test.ts b/test/unit/store.test.ts
index b0e4ccb..72b08c5 100644
--- a/test/unit/store.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/store.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 // @vitest-environment happy-dom
 import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach } from 'vitest';
-import { useStoryStore } from '../../src/store';
+import { useStoryStore, onBeforeRestart } from '../../src/store';
 import { executeStoryInit } from '../../src/story-init';
 import type { StoryData, Passage } from '../../src/parser';
 import { registerClass, clearRegistry } from '../../src/class-registry';
@@ -870,5 +870,16 @@ describe('useStoryStore', () => {
       useStoryStore.getState().restart();
       expect(useStoryStore.getState().renderDeferred).toBe(false);
     });
+
+    it('restart() preserves renderDeferred if set during beforerestart', () => {
+      const story = makeStoryData([makePassage(1, 'Start', '')]);
+      useStoryStore.getState().init(story);
+      const unsub = onBeforeRestart(() => {
+        useStoryStore.getState().deferRender();
+      });
+      useStoryStore.getState().restart();
+      expect(useStoryStore.getState().renderDeferred).toBe(true);
+      unsub();
+    });
   });
 });