diff --git a/doc/source/v0.14.1.txt b/doc/source/v0.14.1.txt
index 8ede5f32dded6..9e992573f568d 100644
--- a/doc/source/v0.14.1.txt
+++ b/doc/source/v0.14.1.txt
@@ -262,6 +262,8 @@ Bug Fixes
 
 
 
+- Bug in area plot with tz-aware time series raises ``ValueError`` (:issue:`7471`)
+
 - Bug in non-monotonic ``Index.union`` may preserve ``name`` incorrectly (:issue:`7458`)
 - Bug in ``DatetimeIndex.intersection`` doesn't preserve timezone (:issue:`4690`)
 
diff --git a/pandas/tests/test_graphics.py b/pandas/tests/test_graphics.py
index d19d071833ea7..dfdd37c468a85 100644
--- a/pandas/tests/test_graphics.py
+++ b/pandas/tests/test_graphics.py
@@ -460,9 +460,33 @@ def test_plot_figsize_and_title(self):
     def test_ts_area_lim(self):
         ax = self.ts.plot(kind='area', stacked=False)
         xmin, xmax = ax.get_xlim()
-        lines = ax.get_lines()
-        self.assertEqual(xmin, lines[0].get_data(orig=False)[0][0])
-        self.assertEqual(xmax, lines[0].get_data(orig=False)[0][-1])
+        line = ax.get_lines()[0].get_data(orig=False)[0]
+        self.assertEqual(xmin, line[0])
+        self.assertEqual(xmax, line[-1])
+        tm.close()
+
+        # GH 7471
+        ax = self.ts.plot(kind='area', stacked=False, x_compat=True)
+        xmin, xmax = ax.get_xlim()
+        line = ax.get_lines()[0].get_data(orig=False)[0]
+        self.assertEqual(xmin, line[0])
+        self.assertEqual(xmax, line[-1])
+        tm.close()
+
+        tz_ts = self.ts.copy()
+        tz_ts.index = tz_ts.tz_localize('GMT').tz_convert('CET')
+        ax = tz_ts.plot(kind='area', stacked=False, x_compat=True)
+        xmin, xmax = ax.get_xlim()
+        line = ax.get_lines()[0].get_data(orig=False)[0]
+        self.assertEqual(xmin, line[0])
+        self.assertEqual(xmax, line[-1])
+        tm.close()
+
+        ax = tz_ts.plot(kind='area', stacked=False, secondary_y=True)
+        xmin, xmax = ax.get_xlim()
+        line = ax.get_lines()[0].get_data(orig=False)[0]
+        self.assertEqual(xmin, line[0])
+        self.assertEqual(xmax, line[-1])
 
     def test_line_area_nan_series(self):
         values = [1, 2, np.nan, 3]
diff --git a/pandas/tools/plotting.py b/pandas/tools/plotting.py
index 2b02523c143b4..7f2f583c5e20e 100644
--- a/pandas/tools/plotting.py
+++ b/pandas/tools/plotting.py
@@ -1767,7 +1767,9 @@ def _post_plot_logic(self):
         else:
             if self.xlim is None:
                 for ax in self.axes:
-                    ax.set_xlim(0, len(self.data)-1)
+                    lines = _get_all_lines(ax)
+                    left, right = _get_xlim(lines)
+                    ax.set_xlim(left, right)
 
         if self.ylim is None:
             if (self.data >= 0).all().all():
@@ -3083,21 +3085,12 @@ def _get_all_lines(ax):
 def _get_xlim(lines):
     left, right = np.inf, -np.inf
     for l in lines:
-        x = l.get_xdata()
-        left = min(_maybe_convert_date(x[0]), left)
-        right = max(_maybe_convert_date(x[-1]), right)
+        x = l.get_xdata(orig=False)
+        left = min(x[0], left)
+        right = max(x[-1], right)
     return left, right
 
 
-def _maybe_convert_date(x):
-    if not com.is_integer(x):
-        conv_func = conv._dt_to_float_ordinal
-        if isinstance(x, datetime.time):
-            conv_func = conv._to_ordinalf
-        x = conv_func(x)
-    return x
-
-
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     # import pandas.rpy.common as com
     # sales = com.load_data('sanfrancisco.home.sales', package='nutshell')