diff --git a/src/nix/flake.cc b/src/nix/flake.cc
index 2863cb4f7ca..65bbac53f75 100644
--- a/src/nix/flake.cc
+++ b/src/nix/flake.cc
@@ -1258,12 +1258,23 @@ struct CmdFlakeShow : FlakeCommand, MixJSON
                             attrPath.size() == 3 && attrPathS[0] == "checks" ? "derivation" :
                             attrPath.size() >= 1 && attrPathS[0] == "hydraJobs" ? "derivation" :
                             "package";
-                        if (description) {
-                            // Handle new lines in descriptions.
-                            auto index = description->find('\n');
-                            std::string_view sanitized_description(description->data(), index != std::string::npos ? index : description->size());
+                        if (description && !description->empty()) {
+                            // Trim the string and only display the first line of the description.
+                            auto trimmed = nix::trim(*description);
+                            auto newLinePos = trimmed.find('\n');
+                            auto length = newLinePos != std::string::npos ? newLinePos : trimmed.size();
+
+                            // If the string is too long then resize add ellipses
+                            std::string desc;
+                            if (length > 80) {
+                                trimmed.resize(80);
+                                desc = trimmed.append("...");
+                            }
+                            else {
+                                desc = trimmed.substr(0, length);
+                            }
 
-                            logger->cout("%s: %s '%s' - '%s'", headerPrefix, type, name, sanitized_description);
+                            logger->cout("%s: %s '%s' - '%s'", headerPrefix, type, name, desc);
                         }
                         else {
                             logger->cout("%s: %s '%s'", headerPrefix, type, name);
diff --git a/tests/functional/flakes/show.sh b/tests/functional/flakes/show.sh
index 2911790debb..d60adb99f45 100755
--- a/tests/functional/flakes/show.sh
+++ b/tests/functional/flakes/show.sh
@@ -95,9 +95,13 @@ cat >flake.nix<<EOF
       aNoDescription = import ./simple.nix;
       bOneLineDescription = import ./simple.nix // { meta.description = "one line"; };
       cMultiLineDescription = import ./simple.nix // { meta.description = ''
-        line one
+         line one
         line two
       ''; };
+      dLongDescription = import ./simple.nix // { meta.description = ''
+        01234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789abcdefg
+      ''; };
+      eEmptyDescription = import ./simple.nix // { meta.description = ""; };
     };
   };
 }
@@ -106,3 +110,5 @@ nix flake show > ./show-output.txt
 test "$(awk -F '[:] ' '/aNoDescription/{print $NF}' ./show-output.txt)" = "package 'simple'"
 test "$(awk -F '[:] ' '/bOneLineDescription/{print $NF}' ./show-output.txt)" = "package 'simple' - 'one line'"
 test "$(awk -F '[:] ' '/cMultiLineDescription/{print $NF}' ./show-output.txt)" = "package 'simple' - 'line one'"
+test "$(awk -F '[:] ' '/dLongDescription/{print $NF}' ./show-output.txt)" = "package 'simple' - '01234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789...'"
+test "$(awk -F '[:] ' '/eEmptyDescription/{print $NF}' ./show-output.txt)" = "package 'simple'"