diff --git a/djangorestframework/serializer.py b/djangorestframework/serializer.py
index 22efa5ed3..55b84df16 100644
--- a/djangorestframework/serializer.py
+++ b/djangorestframework/serializer.py
@@ -106,7 +106,8 @@ class Serializer(object):
 
 
     def __init__(self, depth=None, stack=[], **kwargs):
-        self.depth = depth or self.depth
+        if depth is not None:
+            self.depth = depth
         self.stack = stack