diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/mlt/TransportMoreLikeThisAction.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/mlt/TransportMoreLikeThisAction.java
index f4c38dfb86b..3376c3f1d2a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/mlt/TransportMoreLikeThisAction.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/mlt/TransportMoreLikeThisAction.java
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.action.search.TransportSearchAction;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.support.TransportAction;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterService;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.ClusterState;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.node.DiscoveryNode;
+import org.elasticsearch.cluster.routing.*;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.inject.Inject;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.get.GetField;
@@ -41,12 +43,11 @@ import org.elasticsearch.index.query.BoolQueryBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.index.query.MoreLikeThisFieldQueryBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndicesService;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
-import org.elasticsearch.transport.BaseTransportRequestHandler;
-import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportChannel;
-import org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService;
+import org.elasticsearch.transport.*;
 
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Iterator;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Set;
 
 import static com.google.common.collect.Sets.newHashSet;
@@ -68,6 +69,8 @@ public class TransportMoreLikeThisAction extends TransportAction<MoreLikeThisReq
 
     private final ClusterService clusterService;
 
+    private final TransportService transportService;
+
     @Inject
     public TransportMoreLikeThisAction(Settings settings, ThreadPool threadPool, TransportSearchAction searchAction, TransportGetAction getAction,
                                        ClusterService clusterService, IndicesService indicesService, TransportService transportService) {
@@ -76,6 +79,7 @@ public class TransportMoreLikeThisAction extends TransportAction<MoreLikeThisReq
         this.getAction = getAction;
         this.indicesService = indicesService;
         this.clusterService = clusterService;
+        this.transportService = transportService;
 
         transportService.registerHandler(MoreLikeThisAction.NAME, new TransportHandler());
     }
@@ -87,6 +91,22 @@ public class TransportMoreLikeThisAction extends TransportAction<MoreLikeThisReq
         // update to the concrete index
         final String concreteIndex = clusterState.metaData().concreteIndex(request.index());
 
+        RoutingNode routingNode = clusterState.getRoutingNodes().nodesToShards().get(clusterService.localNode().getId());
+        if (routingNode == null) {
+            redirect(request, listener, clusterState);
+            return;
+        }
+        boolean hasIndexLocally = false;
+        for (MutableShardRouting shardRouting : routingNode.shards()) {
+            if (concreteIndex.equals(shardRouting.index())) {
+                hasIndexLocally = true;
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+        if (!hasIndexLocally) {
+            redirect(request, listener, clusterState);
+            return;
+        }
         Set<String> getFields = newHashSet();
         if (request.fields() != null) {
             Collections.addAll(getFields, request.fields());
@@ -204,6 +224,39 @@ public class TransportMoreLikeThisAction extends TransportAction<MoreLikeThisReq
         });
     }
 
+    // Redirects the request to a data node, that has the index meta data locally available.
+    private void redirect(MoreLikeThisRequest request, final ActionListener<SearchResponse> listener, ClusterState clusterState) {
+        ShardIterator shardIterator = clusterService.operationRouting().getShards(clusterState, request.index(), request.type(), request.id(), null, null);
+        ShardRouting shardRouting = shardIterator.firstOrNull();
+        if (shardRouting == null) {
+            throw new ElasticSearchException("No shards for index " + request.index());
+        }
+        String nodeId = shardRouting.currentNodeId();
+        DiscoveryNode discoveryNode = clusterState.nodes().get(nodeId);
+        transportService.sendRequest(discoveryNode, MoreLikeThisAction.NAME, request, new TransportResponseHandler<SearchResponse>() {
+
+            @Override
+            public SearchResponse newInstance() {
+                return new SearchResponse();
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void handleResponse(SearchResponse response) {
+                listener.onResponse(response);
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public void handleException(TransportException exp) {
+                listener.onFailure(exp);
+            }
+
+            @Override
+            public String executor() {
+                return ThreadPool.Names.SAME;
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
     private void parseSource(GetResponse getResponse, final BoolQueryBuilder boolBuilder, DocumentMapper docMapper, final Set<String> fields, final MoreLikeThisRequest request) {
         if (getResponse.source() == null) {
             return;
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/mlt/MoreLikeThisActionTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/mlt/MoreLikeThisActionTests.java
index 1204c3a1439..337e581d376 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/mlt/MoreLikeThisActionTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/mlt/MoreLikeThisActionTests.java
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.health.ClusterHealthResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.cluster.health.ClusterHealthStatus;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Client;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ImmutableSettings;
+import org.elasticsearch.indices.IndexMissingException;
 import org.elasticsearch.test.integration.AbstractNodesTests;
 import org.testng.annotations.AfterMethod;
 import org.testng.annotations.BeforeMethod;
@@ -33,6 +35,7 @@ import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory.jsonBuilder;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.FilterBuilders.termFilter;
 import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
+import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.notNullValue;
 
 /**
  *
@@ -125,4 +128,24 @@ public class MoreLikeThisActionTests extends AbstractNodesTests {
         assertThat(mltResponse.hits().totalHits(), equalTo(1l));
         assertThat(mltResponse.hits().getAt(0).id(), equalTo("2"));
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testMoreLikeThisIssue2197() throws Exception {
+        startNode("client-node", ImmutableSettings.settingsBuilder().put("node.client", true));
+        try {
+            client1.admin().indices().prepareDelete("foo").execute().actionGet();
+        } catch (IndexMissingException e) {}
+        client1.prepareIndex("foo", "bar", "1")
+                .setSource(jsonBuilder().startObject().startObject("foo").field("bar", "boz").endObject())
+                .execute().actionGet();
+        client1.admin().indices().prepareRefresh("foo").execute().actionGet();
+
+        SearchResponse searchResponse = client1.prepareMoreLikeThis("foo", "bar", "1").execute().actionGet();
+        assertThat(searchResponse, notNullValue());
+        Client client3 = client("client-node");
+        searchResponse = client3.prepareMoreLikeThis("foo", "bar", "1").execute().actionGet();
+        assertThat(searchResponse, notNullValue());
+        client3.close();
+    }
+
 }