diff --git a/src/ui/MainWindow.cpp b/src/ui/MainWindow.cpp
index ace1de1..db1ddf5 100644
--- a/src/ui/MainWindow.cpp
+++ b/src/ui/MainWindow.cpp
@@ -107,8 +107,11 @@ MainWindow::MainWindow(Simulation* sim, const std::string& configDir,
 
     connect(qApp, &QApplication::focusChanged, this, [this](QWidget*, QWidget* newWidget) {
         // A modal holds the focus while it is open, whether it is one of ours on the
-        // layer or a system message box (REQ-UI-MODAL-CHROME).
-        if (newWidget && newWidget != m_gameWorldView && !QApplication::activeModalWidget()
+        // layer or a system message box (REQ-UI-MODAL-CHROME). A null widget -- the focus
+        // going nowhere at all -- is caught too: the world view is what answers keys when
+        // no modal is up, so leaving the window with no focus widget would leave the
+        // hotkeys dead (REQ-UI-HOTKEYS).
+        if (newWidget != m_gameWorldView && !QApplication::activeModalWidget()
             && !m_modalLayer->isActive())
         {
             m_gameWorldView->setFocus();
diff --git a/src/ui/ModalLayer.cpp b/src/ui/ModalLayer.cpp
index ed5fe93..98441ac 100644
--- a/src/ui/ModalLayer.cpp
+++ b/src/ui/ModalLayer.cpp
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 #include <cstddef>
 
+#include <QApplication>
 #include <QEventLoop>
 #include <QFrame>
 #include <QMetaObject>
@@ -40,6 +41,11 @@ int ModalLayer::execute(ModalDialog& content, const QRect& anchorRect)
     // instead of being cut off by the window edge (REQ-UI-MODAL-CHROME). When the
     // content fits -- which is the normal case -- the host is exactly its size and no
     // scroll bar appears, so the player sees the modal alone.
+    // Noted before anything here touches the focus, and given back when this modal
+    // closes: the game world beneath for the first modal of a stack, and the modal it was
+    // opened from for one above that.
+    QWidget* const focusBefore = QApplication::focusWidget();
+
     QScrollArea* host = new QScrollArea(this);
     host->setFrameShape(QFrame::NoFrame);
     host->setWidgetResizable(false);
@@ -52,7 +58,7 @@ int ModalLayer::execute(ModalDialog& content, const QRect& anchorRect)
                        : (m_stack.empty()       ? rect()
                                                 : m_stack.back().host->geometry());
 
-    m_stack.push_back(HostedModal{ &content, host });
+    m_stack.push_back(HostedModal{ &content, host, focusBefore });
 
     // Placed and shown before the layer itself is, so that the frame the layer first
     // paints already carries the modal. Showing the layer first put the dim on screen a
@@ -90,15 +96,24 @@ int ModalLayer::execute(ModalDialog& content, const QRect& anchorRect)
     content.hide();
     delete host;
 
+    QPointer<QWidget> focusAfter;
     for (std::size_t i = m_stack.size(); i > 0; --i)
     {
         if (m_stack[i - 1].content == &content)
         {
+            focusAfter = m_stack[i - 1].focusBefore;
             m_stack.erase(m_stack.begin() + static_cast<std::ptrdiff_t>(i - 1));
             break;
         }
     }
     updateVisibility();
+
+    // After the layer is hidden, not before: hiding a widget takes the focus off
+    // everything on it, which would undo this again.
+    if (!focusAfter.isNull())
+    {
+        focusAfter->setFocus();
+    }
     return content.result();
 }
 
diff --git a/src/ui/ModalLayer.h b/src/ui/ModalLayer.h
index c9dd4b0..5f50f67 100644
--- a/src/ui/ModalLayer.h
+++ b/src/ui/ModalLayer.h
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 #include <QColor>
 #include <QPoint>
+#include <QPointer>
 #include <QRect>
 #include <QWidget>
 
@@ -65,6 +66,12 @@ private:
     {
         ModalDialog* content;
         QScrollArea* host;
+        // What held the keyboard when this modal opened, given back when it closes.
+        // Hiding the layer, or closing a modal a second one was opened from, leaves the
+        // window with no focus widget at all, and a window with none answers no keys --
+        // Escape included, which is what opens the menu (REQ-UI-GAME-MENU). A QPointer
+        // because a modal may outlive what it took the focus from.
+        QPointer<QWidget> focusBefore;
     };
 
     // Sizes content to what it asks for, capped at the layer, and centers it on