diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/Allele.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/Allele.java
index 60e84ae6d..9dee3fece 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/Allele.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/Allele.java
@@ -84,8 +84,10 @@ public class Allele implements Comparable<Allele> {
 
     private byte[] bases = null;
 
+    public final static String NULL_ALLELE_STRING = "-";
+    public final static String NO_CALL_STRING = ".";
     /** A generic static NO_CALL allele for use */
-    public final static Allele NO_CALL = new Allele(".");
+    public final static Allele NO_CALL = new Allele(NO_CALL_STRING);
 
     /**
      * Create a new Allele that includes bases and if tagged as the reference allele if isRef == true.  If bases
diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/VariantContext.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/VariantContext.java
index dd2e64421..821a8d918 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/VariantContext.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/contexts/variantcontext/VariantContext.java
@@ -596,6 +596,11 @@ public class VariantContext {
     //
     // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+    /**
+     * @return the number of samples in the context
+     */
+   public int getNSamples() { return genotypes.size(); }
+
     /**
      * @return true if the context has associated genotypes
      */
@@ -905,7 +910,7 @@ public class VariantContext {
         for ( Allele a : alleles ) {
             for ( Allele b : dest ) {
                 if ( a.basesMatch(b) )
-                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Duplicate allele added to VariantContext" + a);
+                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Duplicate allele added to VariantContext: " + a);
             }
             
             dest.add(a);
@@ -915,10 +920,10 @@ public class VariantContext {
     }
 
     private static Map<String, Genotype> genotypeCollectionToMap(Map<String, Genotype> dest, Collection<Genotype> genotypes) {
-        for ( Genotype a : genotypes ) {
-            if ( dest.containsKey(a.getSampleName() ) )
-                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Duplicate genotype added to VariantContext " + a);
-            dest.put(a.getSampleName(), a);
+        for ( Genotype g : genotypes ) {
+            if ( dest.containsKey(g.getSampleName() ) )
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Duplicate genotype added to VariantContext: " + g);
+            dest.put(g.getSampleName(), g);
         }
 
         return dest;
diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/refdata/PlinkRod.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/refdata/PlinkRod.java
index 84ef7f2fa..249f87092 100644
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/refdata/PlinkRod.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/refdata/PlinkRod.java
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import java.util.*;
 public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<PlinkRod> {
 
     public static final String SEQUENOM_NO_CALL = "0";
-    public static final String SEQUENOM_NO_VARIANT = "-";
+    public static final String SEQUENOM_NO_BASE = "-";
 
     private final Set<String> headerEntries = new HashSet<String>(Arrays.asList("#Family ID","Individual ID","Sex",
                 "Paternal ID","Maternal ID","Phenotype", "FID","IID","PAT","MAT","SEX","PHENOTYPE"));
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
 
     private PlinkFileType plinkFileType;
 
+    private List<String> sampleNames;
+
     public enum PlinkFileType {
         STANDARD_PED, RAW_PED, BINARY_PED
     }
@@ -35,10 +37,11 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
         super(name);
     }
 
-    public PlinkRod(String name, PlinkVariantInfo record, ListIterator<PlinkVariantInfo> iter) {
+    public PlinkRod(String name, PlinkVariantInfo record, ListIterator<PlinkVariantInfo> iter, List<String> sampleNames) {
         super(name);
         currentVariant = record;
         variantIterator = iter;
+        this.sampleNames = sampleNames;
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -81,7 +84,7 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
 
         // get the next record
         currentVariant = variantIterator.next();
-        return new PlinkRod(name, currentVariant, variantIterator);
+        return new PlinkRod(name, currentVariant, variantIterator, sampleNames);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -111,9 +114,12 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
 
     }
 
-    public VariantContext getVariantContext() {
-        assertNotNull();
-        return currentVariant.getVariantContext();
+    public Map<String, List<String>> getGenotypes() {
+        return currentVariant.getGenotypes();
+    }
+
+    public List<String> getSampleNames() {
+        return sampleNames;
     }
 
     public boolean isIndel() {
@@ -121,6 +127,16 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
         return currentVariant.isIndel();
     }
 
+    public boolean isInsertion() {
+        assertNotNull();
+        return currentVariant.isInsertion();
+    }
+
+    public int getLength() {
+        assertNotNull();
+        return currentVariant.getLength();
+    }
+
 
 //     AM I PARSING A TEXT OR A BINARY FILE ??
 
@@ -150,6 +166,8 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
             ArrayList<PlinkVariantInfo> seqVars = instantiateVariantListFromHeader(header);
             ArrayList<Integer> snpOffsets = getSNPOffsetsFromHeader(header);
 
+            sampleNames = new ArrayList<String>();
+
             String line;
             do {
                 line = reader.readLine();
@@ -180,6 +198,7 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
 
         plinkInfo = plinkLine.split("\t");
         String individualName = plinkInfo[1];
+        sampleNames.add(individualName);
 
         int snpNumber = 0;
         for ( int i : offsets ) {
@@ -237,8 +256,8 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
     private ArrayList<PlinkVariantInfo> parseBinaryFormattedPlinkFile(File file) {
         PlinkBinaryTrifecta binaryFiles = getPlinkBinaryTriplet(file);
         ArrayList<PlinkVariantInfo> parsedVariants = instantiateVariantsFromBimFile(binaryFiles.bimFile);
-        ArrayList<String> sampleNames = getSampleNameOrderingFromFamFile(binaryFiles.famFile);
-        ArrayList<PlinkVariantInfo> updatedVariants = getGenotypesFromBedFile(parsedVariants,sampleNames,binaryFiles.bedFile);
+        sampleNames = getSampleNameOrderingFromFamFile(binaryFiles.famFile);
+        ArrayList<PlinkVariantInfo> updatedVariants = getGenotypesFromBedFile(parsedVariants, binaryFiles.bedFile);
 
         java.util.Collections.sort(updatedVariants);
 
@@ -294,7 +313,7 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
         return variants;
     }
 
-    private ArrayList<String> getSampleNameOrderingFromFamFile(File famFile) {
+    private static ArrayList<String> getSampleNameOrderingFromFamFile(File famFile) {
         BufferedReader reader;
         try {
             reader = new BufferedReader( new FileReader( famFile ));
@@ -321,7 +340,7 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
         return sampleNames;
     }
 
-    private ArrayList<PlinkVariantInfo> getGenotypesFromBedFile(ArrayList<PlinkVariantInfo> variants, ArrayList<String> samples, File bedFile) {
+    private ArrayList<PlinkVariantInfo> getGenotypesFromBedFile(ArrayList<PlinkVariantInfo> variants, File bedFile) {
         FileInputStream inStream;
         try {
             inStream = new FileInputStream(bedFile);
@@ -342,11 +361,11 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
                 bytesRead++;
                 if ( genotype != -1 ) {
                     if ( bytesRead > 3 ) {
-                        addGenotypeByte(genotype,variants,samples,snpOffset,sampleOffset, snpMajorMode);
+                        addGenotypeByte(genotype,variants,snpOffset,sampleOffset, snpMajorMode);
 
                         if ( snpMajorMode ) {
                             sampleOffset = sampleOffset + 4;
-                            if ( sampleOffset > samples.size() -1 ) {
+                            if ( sampleOffset > sampleNames.size() -1 ) {
                                 snpOffset ++;
                                 sampleOffset = 0;
                             }
@@ -372,7 +391,7 @@ public class PlinkRod extends BasicReferenceOrderedDatum implements Iterator<Pli
         return variants;
     }
 
-    private void addGenotypeByte(byte genotype, ArrayList<PlinkVariantInfo> variants, ArrayList<String> sampleNames, int snpOffset, int sampleOffset, boolean major) {
+    private void addGenotypeByte(byte genotype, ArrayList<PlinkVariantInfo> variants, int snpOffset, int sampleOffset, boolean major) {
         // four genotypes encoded in this byte
         int[] genotypes = parseGenotypes(genotype);
         for ( int g : genotypes ) {
@@ -406,13 +425,12 @@ class PlinkVariantInfo implements Comparable {
 
     private String variantName;
     private GenomeLoc loc;
-    private HashSet<Allele> alleles = new HashSet<Allele>();
-    private HashSet<Genotype> genotypes = new HashSet<Genotype>();
+    private Map<String, List<String>> genotypes = new HashMap<String, List<String>>();
 
     // for indels
     private boolean isIndel = false;
     private boolean isInsertion = false;
-    private int indelLength = 0;
+    private int length = 1;
 
     // for binary parsing
     private String locAllele1;
@@ -432,18 +450,22 @@ class PlinkVariantInfo implements Comparable {
         return variantName;
     }
 
-    public VariantContext getVariantContext() {
-        try {
-            return new VariantContext(variantName, loc, alleles, genotypes);
-        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
-            throw new IllegalArgumentException(e.getMessage() + "; please make sure that e.g. a sample isn't present more than one time in your ped file");
-        }
+    public Map<String, List<String>> getGenotypes() {
+        return genotypes;
     }
 
     public boolean isIndel() {
         return isIndel;
     }
 
+    public boolean isInsertion() {
+        return isInsertion;
+    }
+
+    public int getLength() {
+        return length;
+    }
+
     public void setGenomeLoc(GenomeLoc loc) {
         this.loc = loc;
     }
@@ -463,10 +485,17 @@ class PlinkVariantInfo implements Comparable {
         String pos = pieces[1].substring(1);
         loc = GenomeLocParser.parseGenomeLoc(chrom+":"+pos);
 
-        if ( pieces.length > 2 && (pieces[2].equals("gI") || pieces[2].equals("gD")) ) {
+        if ( pieces.length > 2 && (pieces[2].startsWith("gI") || pieces[2].startsWith("gD")) ) {
             // it's an indel
             isIndel = true;
-            isInsertion = pieces[2].equals("gI");
+            isInsertion = pieces[2].startsWith("gI");
+            try {
+                // length of insertion on reference is still 1
+                if ( !isInsertion )
+                    length = Integer.parseInt(pieces[2].substring(2));
+            } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException("Variant name " + variantName + " does not adhere to required convention (...|c..._p..._g[I/D][length])");
+            }
         }
     }
 
@@ -482,32 +511,16 @@ class PlinkVariantInfo implements Comparable {
 
     public void addGenotypeEntry(String[] alleleStrings, String sampleName) {
 
-        ArrayList<Allele> myAlleles = new ArrayList<Allele>(2);
+        ArrayList<String> alleles = new ArrayList<String>(2);
 
         for ( String alleleString : alleleStrings ) {
-            if ( alleleString.equals(PlinkRod.SEQUENOM_NO_CALL) ) {
-                myAlleles.add(Allele.NO_CALL);
-            } else {
-                Allele allele;
-                if ( !isIndel ) {
-                    allele = new Allele(alleleString);
-                } else if ( alleleString.equals(PlinkRod.SEQUENOM_NO_VARIANT) ) {
-                    allele = new Allele(alleleString, isInsertion);
-                } else {
-                    allele = new Allele(alleleString, !isInsertion);
-                    if ( indelLength == 0 ) {
-                        indelLength = alleleString.length();
-                        loc = GenomeLocParser.parseGenomeLoc(loc.getContig(), loc.getStart(), loc.getStart()+indelLength-1);
-                    }
-                }
-
-                myAlleles.add(allele);
-                if ( alleles.size() < 2 )
-                    alleles.add(allele);
-            }
+            if ( alleleString.equals(PlinkRod.SEQUENOM_NO_CALL) )
+                alleles.add(Allele.NO_CALL_STRING);
+            else
+                alleles.add(alleleString);
         }
 
-        genotypes.add(new Genotype(sampleName, myAlleles, 20.0));
+        genotypes.put(sampleName, alleles);
     }
 
     public void addBinaryGenotypeEntry( int genoTYPE, String sampleName ) {
diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/refdata/VariantContextAdaptors.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/refdata/VariantContextAdaptors.java
index 333608e2d..e33d1bd4e 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/refdata/VariantContextAdaptors.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/refdata/VariantContextAdaptors.java
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.refdata;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.genotype.vcf.*;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.StingException;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.Utils;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.GenomeLoc;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.GenomeLocParser;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.contexts.variantcontext.VariantContext;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.contexts.variantcontext.Allele;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.contexts.variantcontext.Genotype;
@@ -36,6 +38,7 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
         adaptors.put(rodDbSNP.class, new RodDBSnpAdaptor());
         adaptors.put(RodVCF.class, new RodVCFAdaptor());
         adaptors.put(VCFRecord.class, new VCFRecordAdaptor());
+        adaptors.put(PlinkRod.class, new PlinkRodAdaptor());
     }
 
     public static boolean canBeConvertedToVariantContext(Object variantContainingObject) {
@@ -46,6 +49,7 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
     /** generic superclass */
     private static abstract class VCAdaptor {
         abstract VariantContext convert(String name, Object input);
+        abstract VariantContext convert(String name, Object input, Allele refAllele);
     }
 
     public static VariantContext toVariantContext(String name, Object variantContainingObject) {
@@ -56,9 +60,17 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
         }
     }
 
+    public static VariantContext toVariantContext(String name, Object variantContainingObject, Allele refAllele) {
+        if ( ! adaptors.containsKey(variantContainingObject.getClass()) )
+            return null;
+        else {
+            return adaptors.get(variantContainingObject.getClass()).convert(name, variantContainingObject, refAllele);
+        }
+    }
+
     // --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     //
-    // From here below you can add adaptor classes for new rods (or other types) to convert to VCF
+    // From here below you can add adaptor classes for new rods (or other types) to convert to VC
     //
     // --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -72,16 +84,17 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
 
     private static class RodDBSnpAdaptor extends VCAdaptor {
         VariantContext convert(String name, Object input) {
+            if ( ! Allele.acceptableAlleleBases(((rodDbSNP)input).getReference()) )
+                return null;
+            Allele refAllele = new Allele(((rodDbSNP)input).getReference(), true);
+            return convert(name, input, refAllele);
+        }
+
+        VariantContext convert(String name, Object input, Allele refAllele) {
             rodDbSNP dbsnp = (rodDbSNP)input;
             if ( dbsnp.isSNP() || dbsnp.isIndel() || dbsnp.varType.contains("mixed") ) {
                 // add the reference allele
-                if ( ! Allele.acceptableAlleleBases(dbsnp.getReference()) ) {
-                    //System.out.printf("Excluding dbsnp record %s%n", dbsnp);
-                    return null;
-                }
-
                 List<Allele> alleles = new ArrayList<Allele>();
-                Allele refAllele = new Allele(dbsnp.getReference(), true);
                 alleles.add(refAllele);
 
                 // add all of the alt alleles
@@ -112,18 +125,28 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
 
     private static class RodVCFAdaptor extends VCAdaptor {
         VariantContext convert(String name, Object input) {
-            return vcfToVariantContext(name, ((RodVCF)input).getRecord());
+            Allele refAllele = new Allele(((RodVCF)input).getReference(), true);
+            return vcfToVariantContext(name, ((RodVCF)input).getRecord(), refAllele);
+        }
+
+        VariantContext convert(String name, Object input, Allele refAllele) {
+            return vcfToVariantContext(name, ((RodVCF)input).getRecord(), refAllele);
         }
     }
 
     private static class VCFRecordAdaptor extends VCAdaptor {
         VariantContext convert(String name, Object input) {
-            return vcfToVariantContext(name, (VCFRecord)input);
+            Allele refAllele = new Allele(((VCFRecord)input).getReference(), true);
+            return vcfToVariantContext(name, (VCFRecord)input, refAllele);
+        }
+
+        VariantContext convert(String name, Object input, Allele refAllele) {
+            return vcfToVariantContext(name, (VCFRecord)input, refAllele);
         }
     }
 
 
-    private static VariantContext vcfToVariantContext(String name, VCFRecord vcf) {
+    private static VariantContext vcfToVariantContext(String name, VCFRecord vcf, Allele refAllele) {
         if ( vcf.isSNP() || vcf.isIndel() ) {
             // add the reference allele
             if ( ! Allele.acceptableAlleleBases(vcf.getReference()) ) {
@@ -137,7 +160,6 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
 
             // add all of the alt alleles
             List<Allele> alleles = new ArrayList<Allele>();
-            Allele refAllele = new Allele(vcf.getReference(), true);
             alleles.add(refAllele);
             for ( String alt : vcf.getAlternateAlleleList() ) {
                 if ( ! Allele.acceptableAlleleBases(alt) ) {
@@ -194,9 +216,9 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
         return new VCFHeader(hInfo == null ? new HashSet<VCFHeaderLine>() : hInfo, names);
     }
 
-    public static VCFRecord toVCF(VariantContext vc) {
+    public static VCFRecord toVCF(VariantContext vc, char previousRefBase) {
         // deal with the reference
-        String referenceBase = new String(vc.getReference().getBases());
+        String referenceBases = new String(vc.getReference().getBases());
 
         String contig = vc.getLocation().getContig();
         long position = vc.getLocation().getStart();
@@ -205,15 +227,51 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
         
         String filters = vc.isFiltered() ? Utils.join(";", Utils.sorted(vc.getFilters())) : VCFRecord.PASSES_FILTERS;
 
-        Map<Allele, VCFGenotypeEncoding> alleleMap = new HashMap<Allele, VCFGenotypeEncoding>();
-        alleleMap.put(Allele.NO_CALL, new VCFGenotypeEncoding(VCFGenotypeRecord.EMPTY_ALLELE)); // convenience for lookup
+        // TODO - fixme: temporarily using Strings as keys because Alleles aren't hashing correctly
+        Map<String, VCFGenotypeEncoding> alleleMap = new HashMap<String, VCFGenotypeEncoding>();
+        alleleMap.put(Allele.NO_CALL.toString(), new VCFGenotypeEncoding(VCFGenotypeRecord.EMPTY_ALLELE)); // convenience for lookup
         List<VCFGenotypeEncoding> vcfAltAlleles = new ArrayList<VCFGenotypeEncoding>();
         for ( Allele a : vc.getAlleles() ) {
-            VCFGenotypeEncoding encoding = new VCFGenotypeEncoding(new String(a.getBases()));
+
+            VCFGenotypeEncoding encoding;
+
+            // This is tricky because the VCF spec states that the reference must be a single
+            // character, whereas the reference alleles for deletions of length > 1 are strings.
+            // To be safe, we require the reference base be passed in and we use that whenever
+            // we know that the given allele is the reference.
+
+            String alleleString = new String(a.getBases());
+            if ( vc.getType() == VariantContext.Type.MIXED ) {
+                throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Conversion from a mixed type isn't currently supported");
+            } else if ( vc.getType() == VariantContext.Type.INDEL ) {
+                if ( a.isNull() ) {
+                    if ( a.isReference() ) {
+                        // ref, where alt is insertion
+                        encoding = new VCFGenotypeEncoding(Character.toString(previousRefBase));
+                    } else {
+                        // non-ref deletion
+                        encoding = new VCFGenotypeEncoding("D" + Integer.toString(referenceBases.length()));
+                    }
+                } else if ( a.isReference() ) {
+                    // ref, where alt is deletion
+                    encoding = new VCFGenotypeEncoding(Character.toString(previousRefBase));
+                } else {
+                    // non-ref insertion
+                    encoding = new VCFGenotypeEncoding("I" + alleleString);
+                }
+            } else if ( vc.getType() == VariantContext.Type.NO_VARIATION ) {
+                // ref
+                encoding = new VCFGenotypeEncoding(Character.toString(previousRefBase));
+            } else {
+                // ref or alt for snp
+                encoding = new VCFGenotypeEncoding(alleleString);
+            }
+
             if ( a.isNonReference() ) {
                 vcfAltAlleles.add(encoding);
             }
-            alleleMap.put(a, encoding);
+
+            alleleMap.put(a.toString(), encoding);
         }
 
         List<String> vcfGenotypeAttributeKeys = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(VCFGenotypeRecord.GENOTYPE_KEY));
@@ -225,7 +283,7 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
         for ( Genotype g : vc.getGenotypesSortedByName() ) {
             List<VCFGenotypeEncoding> encodings = new ArrayList<VCFGenotypeEncoding>(g.getPloidy());
             for ( Allele a : g.getAlleles() ) {
-                encodings.add(alleleMap.get(a));
+                encodings.add(alleleMap.get(a.toString()));
             }
 
             VCFGenotypeRecord.PHASE phasing = g.genotypesArePhased() ? VCFGenotypeRecord.PHASE.PHASED : VCFGenotypeRecord.PHASE.UNPHASED;
@@ -240,7 +298,6 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
 
             genotypeObjects.add(vcfG);
         }
-
         // info fields
         Map<String, String> infoFields = new HashMap<String, String>();
         for ( Map.Entry<String, Object> elt : vc.getAttributes().entrySet() ) {
@@ -251,7 +308,7 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
             }
         }
 
-        return new VCFRecord(referenceBase, contig, position, ID, vcfAltAlleles, qual, filters, infoFields, genotypeFormatString, genotypeObjects);
+        return new VCFRecord(Character.toString(previousRefBase), contig, position, ID, vcfAltAlleles, qual, filters, infoFields, genotypeFormatString, genotypeObjects);
     }
 
     private static List<String> calcVCFGenotypeKeys(VariantContext vc) {
@@ -266,4 +323,66 @@ public class VariantContextAdaptors {
         keys.add(VCFGenotypeRecord.GENOTYPE_QUALITY_KEY);
         return Utils.sorted(new ArrayList<String>(keys));
     }
+
+    // --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    //
+    // Plink to VariantContext
+    //
+    // --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+    private static class PlinkRodAdaptor extends VCAdaptor {
+        VariantContext convert(String name, Object input) {
+            throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Conversion from Plink to VC requires a reference allele");
+        }
+
+        VariantContext convert(String name, Object input, Allele refAllele) {
+            PlinkRod plink = (PlinkRod)input;
+
+            HashMap<String, Allele> alleles = new HashMap<String, Allele>(); // use String keys to help maintain uniqueness
+            alleles.put(refAllele.isNull() ? Allele.NULL_ALLELE_STRING : new String(refAllele.getBases()), refAllele);
+
+            Set<Genotype> genotypes = new HashSet<Genotype>();
+
+            Map<String, List<String>> genotypeSets = plink.getGenotypes();
+            // for each sample
+            for ( Map.Entry<String, List<String>> genotype : genotypeSets.entrySet() ) {
+                ArrayList<Allele> myAlleles = new ArrayList<Allele>(2);
+
+                // for each allele
+                for ( String alleleString : genotype.getValue() ) {
+                    Allele allele;
+                    if ( alleleString.equals(Allele.NO_CALL_STRING) ) {
+                        allele = Allele.NO_CALL;
+                    } else {                    
+                        if ( !plink.isIndel() ) {
+                            allele = new Allele(alleleString, refAllele.basesMatch(alleleString));
+                        } else if ( alleleString.equals(Allele.NULL_ALLELE_STRING) ) {
+                            allele = new Allele(alleleString, plink.isInsertion());
+                        } else {
+                            allele = new Allele(alleleString, !plink.isInsertion());
+                        }
+
+                        if ( !alleles.containsKey(alleleString) )
+                            alleles.put(alleleString, allele);
+                    }
+
+                    myAlleles.add(allele);
+                }
+
+                // create the genotype
+                genotypes.add(new Genotype(genotype.getKey(), myAlleles));
+            }
+
+            // create the variant context
+            try {
+                GenomeLoc loc = GenomeLocParser.setStop(plink.getLocation(), plink.getLocation().getStop() + plink.getLength()-1);
+                VariantContext vc = new VariantContext(plink.getVariantName(), loc, alleles.values(), genotypes);
+                vc.validate();
+                return vc;
+            } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+                throw new IllegalArgumentException(e.getMessage() + "; please make sure that e.g. a sample isn't present more than one time in your ped file");
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
 }
diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/TestVariantContextWalker.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/TestVariantContextWalker.java
index f12a4dbe9..e9bd120ff 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/TestVariantContextWalker.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/TestVariantContextWalker.java
@@ -5,15 +5,10 @@ import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.contexts.ReferenceContext;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.contexts.variantcontext.VariantContext;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.refdata.*;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.RodWalker;
-import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.datasources.simpleDataSources.ReferenceOrderedDataSource;
-import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.*;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.genotype.vcf.*;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.cmdLine.Argument;
 
 import java.util.EnumSet;
-import java.util.Set;
-import java.util.HashSet;
-import java.util.List;
 import java.io.File;
 
 /**
@@ -29,7 +24,7 @@ public class TestVariantContextWalker extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
     @Argument(fullName="onlyContextsStartinAtCurrentPosition", doc="Only take variant contexts at actually start at the current position, excluding those at span to the current location but start earlier", required=false)
     boolean onlyContextsStartinAtCurrentPosition = false;
 
-    @Argument(fullName="printPerLocus", doc="If true, we'll print the variant contexts, in addition to counts", required=false)
+    @Argument(fullName="printPerLocus", doc="If true, we'll psetenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH .:/util/gcc-4.3.0/lib64:/util/gcc-4.3.0/lib/gcc/x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/4.3.0:/util/gcc-4.3.0/lib/:/util/lib:/broad/tools/Linux/x86_64/pkgs/boost_1.38.0/lib:/humgen/gsa-scr1/GATK_Data/bwarint the variant contexts, in addition to counts", required=false)
     boolean printContexts = false;
 
     @Argument(fullName="outputVCF", doc="If provided, we'll convert the first input context into a VCF", required=false)
@@ -57,7 +52,7 @@ public class TestVariantContextWalker extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
                         wroteHeader = true;
                     }
 
-                    writer.addRecord(VariantContextAdaptors.toVCF(vc));
+                    writer.addRecord(VariantContextAdaptors.toVCF(vc, ref.getBase()));
                 }
 
                 n++;
diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/varianteval2/VariantEval2Walker.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/varianteval2/VariantEval2Walker.java
index 4d2413f44..ec1717457 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/varianteval2/VariantEval2Walker.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/varianteval2/VariantEval2Walker.java
@@ -396,13 +396,13 @@ public class VariantEval2Walker extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
             }
 
             if ( group.enableInterestingSiteCaptures && captureInterestingSitesOfEvalSet(group) )
-                writeInterestingSite(interestingReasons, vc);
+                writeInterestingSite(interestingReasons, vc, ref.getBase());
         }
 
         return 0;
     }
 
-    private void writeInterestingSite(List<String> interestingReasons, VariantContext vc) {
+    private void writeInterestingSite(List<String> interestingReasons, VariantContext vc, char ref) {
         if ( writer != null && interestingReasons.size() > 0 ) {
             MutableVariantContext mvc = new MutableVariantContext(vc);
 
@@ -431,7 +431,7 @@ public class VariantEval2Walker extends RodWalker<Integer, Integer> {
                 wroteHeader = true;
             }
 
-            writer.addRecord(VariantContextAdaptors.toVCF(mvc));
+            writer.addRecord(VariantContextAdaptors.toVCF(mvc, ref));
             //interestingReasons.clear();
         }
     }
diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/vcftools/BeagleTrioToVCFWalker.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/vcftools/BeagleTrioToVCFWalker.java
index 4eb287e88..1b4748242 100755
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/vcftools/BeagleTrioToVCFWalker.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/oneoffprojects/walkers/vcftools/BeagleTrioToVCFWalker.java
@@ -10,19 +10,11 @@ import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.RodWalker;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.Requires;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.DataSource;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.RMD;
-import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.*;
-import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.genotype.vcf.VCFRecord;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.genotype.vcf.VCFWriter;
-import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.genotype.vcf.VCFHeader;
-import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.genotype.vcf.VCFHeaderLine;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.cmdLine.Argument;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.oneoffprojects.walkers.varianteval2.MendelianViolationEvaluator;
 
 import java.util.*;
-import java.util.regex.Pattern;
-import java.util.regex.Matcher;
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 
 /**
  * Test routine for new VariantContext object
@@ -68,6 +60,9 @@ public class BeagleTrioToVCFWalker extends RodWalker<VariantContext, Long> {
             }
         }
 
+        if ( vc != null )
+            writer.addRecord(VariantContextAdaptors.toVCF(vc, ref.getBase()));
+
         return vc;
     }
 
@@ -121,13 +116,6 @@ public class BeagleTrioToVCFWalker extends RodWalker<VariantContext, Long> {
     }
 
     public Long reduce(VariantContext vc, Long prevReduce) {
-        if ( vc == null ) {
-            return prevReduce;
-        } else {
-            writer.addRecord(VariantContextAdaptors.toVCF(vc));
-            prevReduce++;
-        }
-
-        return prevReduce;
+        return ( vc == null ? prevReduce : prevReduce+1);
     }
 }
diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/variantstovcf/PlinkToVCF.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/variantstovcf/PlinkToVCF.java
index 4ec5104f3..69ad0cdff 100644
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/variantstovcf/PlinkToVCF.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/playground/gatk/walkers/variantstovcf/PlinkToVCF.java
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.refdata.PlinkRod;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.refdata.ReferenceOrderedDatum;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.refdata.VariantContextAdaptors;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.RodWalker;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.Reference;
+import org.broadinstitute.sting.gatk.walkers.Window;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.cmdLine.Argument;
 import org.broadinstitute.sting.utils.genotype.vcf.*;
 
@@ -22,6 +24,7 @@ import java.util.*;
 /**
  * Converts Sequenom files to a VCF annotated with QC metrics (HW-equilibrium, % failed probes)
  */
+@Reference(window=@Window(start=0,stop=40))
 public class PlinkToVCF extends RodWalker<VCFRecord,Integer> {
     @Argument(fullName="outputVCF", shortName="vcf", doc="The VCF file to write to", required=true)
     public File vcfFile = null;
@@ -39,27 +42,19 @@ public class PlinkToVCF extends RodWalker<VCFRecord,Integer> {
     @Argument(fullName="maxHomNonref", doc="Maximum homozygous-nonreference rate (as a proportion) to consider an assay valid", required = false)
     public double maxHomNonref = 1.1;
 
-    private final Set<String> HEADER_FIELDS = new HashSet<String>(Arrays.asList("#Family ID","Individual ID","Sex","Paternal ID","Maternal ID","Phenotype",
-                "FID","IID","PAT","MAT","SEX","PHENOTYPE"));
+    private static final int MAX_INDEL_SIZE = 40;
+    
     private final int INIT_NUMBER_OF_POPULATIONS = 10;
-    private final int DEFAULT_QUALITY = 20;
     private ArrayList<String> sampleNames = new ArrayList<String>(nSamples);
-    private VCFGenotypeWriterAdapter vcfWriter;
+    private VCFWriter vcfWriter = null;
     private final HardyWeinberg HWCalc = new HardyWeinberg();
     private final boolean useSmartHardy = popFile != null;
     private HashMap<String,String> samplesToPopulation;
 
     public void initialize() {
-        vcfWriter = new VCFGenotypeWriterAdapter(vcfFile);
         if ( useSmartHardy ) {
             samplesToPopulation = parsePopulationFile(popFile);
         }
-        Set<VCFHeaderLine> hInfo = new HashSet<VCFHeaderLine>();
-        hInfo.addAll(VCFUtils.getHeaderFields(getToolkit()));
-        hInfo.add(new VCFHeaderLine("source", "PlinkToVCF"));
-        hInfo.add(new VCFHeaderLine("reference", getToolkit().getArguments().referenceFile.getName()));
-        vcfWriter.writeHeader(new TreeSet<String>(sampleNames), hInfo);
-        nSamples = sampleNames.size();
     }
 
     public Integer reduceInit() {
@@ -85,50 +80,69 @@ public class PlinkToVCF extends RodWalker<VCFRecord,Integer> {
         if ( plinkRod == null )
             return null;
 
+        if ( vcfWriter == null )
+            initializeWriter(plinkRod);
+
         return addVariantInformationToCall(ref, plinkRod);
     }
 
+    private void initializeWriter(PlinkRod plinkRod) {
+        vcfWriter = new VCFWriter(vcfFile);
+
+        Set<VCFHeaderLine> hInfo = new HashSet<VCFHeaderLine>();
+        hInfo.add(new VCFHeaderLine("source", "PlinkToVCF"));
+        hInfo.add(new VCFHeaderLine("reference", getToolkit().getArguments().referenceFile.getName()));
+
+        VCFHeader header = new VCFHeader(hInfo, new TreeSet<String>(plinkRod.getSampleNames()));
+        vcfWriter.writeHeader(header);
+
+        nSamples = sampleNames.size();
+
+    }
+
     public Integer reduce(VCFRecord call, Integer numVariants) {
         if ( call != null ) {
             numVariants++;
-            printToVCF(call);
+            vcfWriter.addRecord(call);
         }
         return numVariants;                        
     }
 
     public void onTraversalDone(Integer finalReduce) {
         logger.info("Variants processed="+finalReduce.toString());
-        vcfWriter.close();
+        if ( vcfWriter != null )
+            vcfWriter.close();
     }
 
-    private void printToVCF(VCFRecord call) {
-        try {
-            vcfWriter.addRecord(call);
-        } catch ( RuntimeException e ) {
-            if ( e.getLocalizedMessage().equalsIgnoreCase("We have more genotype samples than the header specified")) {
-                throw new StingException("We have more sample genotypes than sample names -- check that there are no duplicates in the .ped file",e);
-            } else {
-                throw new StingException("Error in VCF creation: "+e.getLocalizedMessage(),e);
-            }
-        }
-    }
 
     private VCFRecord addVariantInformationToCall(ReferenceContext ref, PlinkRod plinkRod) {
 
-        VariantContext vContext = plinkRod.getVariantContext();
-        VCFRecord record = VariantContextAdaptors.toVCF(vContext);
+        // determine the reference allele
+        Allele refAllele;
+        if ( !plinkRod.isIndel() ) {
+            refAllele = new Allele(Character.toString(ref.getBase()), true);
+        } else if ( plinkRod.isInsertion() ) {
+            refAllele = new Allele(PlinkRod.SEQUENOM_NO_BASE, true);
+        } else {
+            if ( plinkRod.getLength() > MAX_INDEL_SIZE )
+                throw new UnsupportedOperationException("PlinkToVCF currently can only handle indels up to length " + MAX_INDEL_SIZE);
+            char[] deletion = new char[plinkRod.getLength()];
+            System.arraycopy(ref.getBases(), 1, deletion, 0, plinkRod.getLength());
+            refAllele = new Allele(new String(deletion), true);
+        }
+
+        VariantContext vContext = VariantContextAdaptors.toVariantContext(plinkRod.getName(), plinkRod, refAllele);
+        VCFRecord record = VariantContextAdaptors.toVCF(vContext, ref.getBase());
         record.setGenotypeFormatString("GT");
 
-        int numNoCalls = vContext.getNoCallCount();
-        int numHomVarCalls = vContext.getHomVarCount();
+        if ( true )
+            return record;
+
         int numHetCalls = vContext.getHetCount();
 
+        double noCallProp = (double)vContext.getNoCallCount() / (double)vContext.getNSamples();
+        double homVarProp = (double)vContext.getHomVarCount() / (double)vContext.getNSamples();
 
-
-        double noCallProp = ( (double) numNoCalls )/( (double) sampleNames.size());
-        double homNonRProp = ( (double) numHomVarCalls )/( (double) sampleNames.size() - numNoCalls);
-
-        record.setQual(DEFAULT_QUALITY);
         String hw = hardyWeinbergCalculation(ref,record);
         double hwScore = hw != null ? Double.valueOf(hw) : -0.0;
         // TODO -- record.addInfoFields(generateInfoField(record, numNoCalls,numHomVarCalls,numNonrefAlleles,ref, plinkRod, hwScore));
@@ -136,7 +150,7 @@ public class PlinkToVCF extends RodWalker<VCFRecord,Integer> {
             record.setFilterString("Hardy-Weinberg");
         } else if ( noCallProp > maxNoCall ) {
             record.setFilterString("No-calls");
-        } else if ( homNonRProp > maxHomNonref) {
+        } else if ( homVarProp > maxHomNonref) {
             record.setFilterString("HomNonref-calls");
         }
         
diff --git a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/genotype/vcf/VCFRecord.java b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/genotype/vcf/VCFRecord.java
index 24866b11f..d170c0a86 100644
--- a/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/genotype/vcf/VCFRecord.java
+++ b/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/genotype/vcf/VCFRecord.java
@@ -582,7 +582,10 @@ public class VCFRecord implements Variation, VariantBackedByGenotype {
             builder.append(EMPTY_ALLELE_FIELD);
         }
         builder.append(FIELD_SEPERATOR);
-        builder.append(String.format(DOUBLE_PRECISION_FORMAT_STRING, getQual()));
+        if ( MathUtils.compareDoubles(mQual, -1.0) == 0 )
+            builder.append("-1");
+        else
+            builder.append(String.format(DOUBLE_PRECISION_FORMAT_STRING, mQual));
         builder.append(FIELD_SEPERATOR);
         builder.append(Utils.join(FILTER_CODE_SEPERATOR, getFilteringCodes()));
         builder.append(FIELD_SEPERATOR);
@@ -623,12 +626,20 @@ public class VCFRecord implements Variation, VariantBackedByGenotype {
      * @param header  the header object
      */
     private void addGenotypeData(StringBuilder builder, VCFHeader header) {
+        Map<String, VCFGenotypeRecord> gMap = genotypeListToMap(getGenotypes());
+
         StringBuffer tempStr = new StringBuffer();
-        if ( header.getGenotypeSamples().size() < getGenotypes().size() )
-            throw new IllegalStateException("We have more genotype samples than the header specified");
+        if ( header.getGenotypeSamples().size() < getGenotypes().size() ) {
+            for ( String sample : gMap.keySet() ) {
+                if ( !header.getGenotypeSamples().contains(sample) )
+                    System.err.println("Sample " + sample + " is a duplicate or is otherwise not present in the header");
+                else
+                    header.getGenotypeSamples().remove(sample);
+            }
+            throw new IllegalStateException("We have more genotype samples than the header specified; please check that samples aren't duplicated");
+        }
         tempStr.append(FIELD_SEPERATOR + mGenotypeFormatString);
 
-        Map<String, VCFGenotypeRecord> gMap = genotypeListToMap(getGenotypes());
         String[] genotypeFormatStrings = mGenotypeFormatString.split(":");
 
         for ( String genotype : header.getGenotypeSamples() ) {
diff --git a/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/IndelRealignerIntegrationTest.java b/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/IndelRealignerIntegrationTest.java
index bf8f4a6b9..bc5ac2ea9 100755
--- a/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/IndelRealignerIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/java/test/org/broadinstitute/sting/gatk/walkers/indels/IndelRealignerIntegrationTest.java
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import java.util.Arrays;
 
 public class IndelRealignerIntegrationTest extends WalkerTest {
     @Test
-    public void testIntervals() {
+    public void testRealigner() {
 
         String[] md5lod5 = {"67c3fc25e9d192cc5fbfd48ade0efc84", "86778f92b0fa6aa7c26e651c8c1eb320"};
         WalkerTestSpec spec1 = new WalkerTestSpec(
@@ -23,4 +23,4 @@ public class IndelRealignerIntegrationTest extends WalkerTest {
                  Arrays.asList(md5lod200));
         executeTest("testLod200", spec2);
     }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file