diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index d23c0b8d..18aa4a96 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@ where the formatting is also better._
 - Fixed Issue #545 where xaxs/yaxs were not restored when set by an internal function.
   (#545 @zeileis)
 
+- Fixed Issue #553 where `facet.args = list(free = TRUE)` lead to an error when used
+  used without facets (#554 @zeileis)
+
 ### Breaking changes
 
 ## v0.6.0
diff --git a/R/facet.R b/R/facet.R
index 9183a680..fde5f529 100644
--- a/R/facet.R
+++ b/R/facet.R
@@ -309,8 +309,8 @@ draw_facet_window = function(
       if (isTRUE(facet.args[["free"]])) {
         # First, we need to calculate the plot extent and axes range of each
         # individual facet.
-        xfree = split(c(x, xmin, xmax), facet)[[ii]]
-        yfree = split(c(y, ymin, ymax), facet)[[ii]]
+        xfree = if (!is.null(facet)) split(c(x, xmin, xmax), facet)[[ii]] else c(x, xmin, xmax)
+        yfree = if (!is.null(facet)) split(c(y, ymin, ymax), facet)[[ii]] else c(y, ymin, ymax)
         if (null_xlim) xlim = range(xfree, na.rm = TRUE)
         if (null_ylim) ylim = range(yfree, na.rm = TRUE)
         xext = extendrange(xlim, f = 0.04)