diff --git a/src/initialize.cpp b/src/initialize.cpp
index 6383af64e..9c0a05d37 100644
--- a/src/initialize.cpp
+++ b/src/initialize.cpp
@@ -358,7 +358,7 @@ bool read_model_xml()
   for (const auto& input : other_inputs) {
     if (file_exists(settings::path_input + input)) {
       warning((fmt::format("Other XML file input(s) are present. These files "
-                           "will be ignored in favor of the {} file.",
+                           "may be ignored in favor of the {} file.",
         model_filename)));
       break;
     }
@@ -392,8 +392,16 @@ bool read_model_xml()
   // Initialize distribcell_filters
   prepare_distribcell();
 
-  if (check_for_node(root, "plots"))
+  if (check_for_node(root, "plots")) {
     read_plots_xml(root.child("plots"));
+  } else {
+    // When no <plots> element is present in the model.xml file, check for a
+    // regular plots.xml file
+    std::string filename = settings::path_input + "plots.xml";
+    if (file_exists(filename)) {
+      read_plots_xml();
+    }
+  }
 
   return true;
 }