diff --git a/FEATURES.md b/FEATURES.md
index 28ef6ba..a311a0f 100644
--- a/FEATURES.md
+++ b/FEATURES.md
@@ -689,7 +689,11 @@ The editor is still there and still does everything a drag cannot.
   change that should go out with notice goes through the editor.
 - The new time is worked out **in the event's own frame** rather than through
   an instant: its stored wall clock is what moves, and its time zone is not
-  touched. Computing a new time from the reader's local hours and then
+  touched. A move in the month grid shifts it by the number of days the hand
+  moved it, rather than writing the date it was dropped on — those are the same
+  thing only while the event's zone is the reader's. An event kept in Tokyo and
+  read from Phoenix is drawn on the previous evening, so writing the dropped-on
+  date sent it a day earlier than the pointer went. Computing a new time from the reader's local hours and then
   re-expressing it in the event's zone converts twice, and the two do not
   cancel.
 
diff --git a/server/src/mock/index.ts b/server/src/mock/index.ts
index 98bf239..f69de92 100644
--- a/server/src/mock/index.ts
+++ b/server/src/mock/index.ts
@@ -248,6 +248,13 @@ const events: Obj[] = [];
   events.push({ id: "ev1", calendarIds: { c1: true }, "@type": "Event", uid: "ev1", title: "Standup", start: local(d(0, 9)), timeZone: tz, duration: "PT30M", recurrenceRule: { "@type": "RecurrenceRule", frequency: "weekly", byDay: [{ day: "mo" }, { day: "tu" }, { day: "we" }, { day: "th" }, { day: "fr" }] }, showWithoutTime: false, status: "confirmed", freeBusyStatus: "busy", privacy: "public" });
   events.push({ id: "ev2", calendarIds: { c2: true }, "@type": "Event", uid: "ev2", title: "Design review", start: local(d(1, 14)), timeZone: tz, duration: "PT1H30M", showWithoutTime: false, locations: { l: { "@type": "Location", name: "Room 2" } }, participants: { me: { "@type": "Participant", name: "Demo User", calendarAddress: `mailto:${USER}`, roles: { owner: true, attendee: true }, participationStatus: "accepted" }, p2: { "@type": "Participant", name: "Ada Lovelace", calendarAddress: "mailto:ada@example.org", roles: { attendee: true, required: true }, participationStatus: "needs-action", expectReply: true } }, organizerCalendarAddress: `mailto:${USER}` });
   events.push({ id: "ev3", calendarIds: { c1: true }, "@type": "Event", uid: "ev3", title: "Conference", start: local(d(3, 0)).slice(0, 10) + "T00:00:00", duration: "P2D", showWithoutTime: true, timeZone: null });
+  /*
+   * One event in a zone that is not the reader's, because every other fixture
+   * here uses the machine's own and so cannot tell a correct conversion from
+   * no conversion at all. Dragging this one is what proves a move keeps the
+   * time the event says it happens at.
+   */
+  events.push({ id: "ev9", calendarIds: { c1: true }, "@type": "Event", uid: "ev9", title: "Tokyo sync", start: local(d(2, 15)), timeZone: "Asia/Tokyo", duration: "PT1H", showWithoutTime: false, color: "#7c3aed" });
   events.push({ id: "ev4", calendarIds: { c1: true }, "@type": "Event", uid: "ev4", title: "Lunch with Grace", start: local(d(2, 12)), timeZone: tz, duration: "PT1H", showWithoutTime: false, color: "#db2777" });
   // Two in the shared account, so a colleague's calendar has something in it.
   sharedEvents.push({ id: "sv1", calendarIds: { c9: true }, "@type": "Event", uid: "sv1", title: "Grace: release planning", start: local(d(1, 10)), timeZone: tz, duration: "PT1H", showWithoutTime: false, status: "confirmed", freeBusyStatus: "busy", privacy: "public" });
diff --git a/web/src/lib/__tests__/eventDrag.test.ts b/web/src/lib/__tests__/eventDrag.test.ts
index da34b86..af21360 100644
--- a/web/src/lib/__tests__/eventDrag.test.ts
+++ b/web/src/lib/__tests__/eventDrag.test.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ import {
   resizedBy,
   snap,
   movePatch,
-  moveToDayPatch,
+  moveByDaysPatch,
+  dayDelta,
   resizePatch,
   SNAP_MINUTES,
 } from "@/lib/eventDrag";
@@ -142,8 +143,31 @@ describe("the patch a drag sends, computed in the event's own frame", () => {
     expect(movePatch("2026-09-04T14:00:00", 30).duration).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
-  it("keeps the time of day when moving to another date", () => {
-    expect(moveToDayPatch("2026-09-04T14:30:00", new Date(2026, 8, 10))).toEqual({ start: "2026-09-10T14:30:00" });
+  it("keeps the time of day when moving by whole days", () => {
+    expect(moveByDaysPatch("2026-09-04T14:30:00", 6)).toEqual({ start: "2026-09-10T14:30:00" });
+    expect(moveByDaysPatch("2026-09-04T14:30:00", -3)).toEqual({ start: "2026-09-01T14:30:00" });
+  });
+
+  it("moves by the delta the hand made, not to the date that was dropped on", () => {
+    /*
+     * The month grid's cells are local days; the stored date is in the event's
+     * own zone. Writing the dropped-on date put a Tokyo event dropped on the
+     * 11th onto the 10th, because 15:00 in Tokyo is the previous evening in
+     * Phoenix — it went where its own calendar said, not where the pointer did.
+     */
+    const storedTokyo = "2026-09-04T15:00:00"; // shown to a Phoenix reader on the 3rd
+    const shownOn = new Date(2026, 8, 3);
+    const droppedOn = new Date(2026, 8, 11);
+    const patch = moveByDaysPatch(storedTokyo, dayDelta(shownOn, droppedOn));
+    // Eight days later in its own frame, so eight days later on screen too.
+    expect(patch).toEqual({ start: "2026-09-12T15:00:00" });
+  });
+
+  it("counts whole local days, ignoring the time on either side", () => {
+    expect(dayDelta(new Date(2026, 8, 3, 23, 30), new Date(2026, 8, 4, 0, 30))).toBe(1);
+    expect(dayDelta(new Date(2026, 8, 4), new Date(2026, 8, 4))).toBe(0);
+    expect(dayDelta(new Date(2026, 8, 11), new Date(2026, 8, 3))).toBe(-8);
+    expect(dayDelta(new Date(2026, 8, 30), new Date(2026, 9, 2))).toBe(2);
   });
 
   it("never sends a start for a resize, so the zone question does not arise", () => {
@@ -158,7 +182,8 @@ describe("the patch a drag sends, computed in the event's own frame", () => {
 
   it("says nothing at all about a start it cannot read", () => {
     expect(movePatch("not a date", 30)).toEqual({});
-    expect(moveToDayPatch("", new Date(2026, 8, 10))).toEqual({});
+    expect(moveByDaysPatch("", 3)).toEqual({});
+    expect(moveByDaysPatch("2026-09-04T14:00:00", Number.NaN)).toEqual({});
   });
 });
 
diff --git a/web/src/lib/eventDrag.ts b/web/src/lib/eventDrag.ts
index 2cc3aec..667937f 100644
--- a/web/src/lib/eventDrag.ts
+++ b/web/src/lib/eventDrag.ts
@@ -121,14 +121,34 @@ export function movePatch(storedStart: string, deltaMinutes: number): DragPatch
   return { start: formatStored(addMinutes(base, snap(deltaMinutes))) };
 }
 
-/** Moved to another date, keeping the time of day it already had. */
-export function moveToDayPatch(storedStart: string, day: Date): DragPatch {
+/**
+ * Moved by a whole number of days, keeping the time of day it already had.
+ *
+ * A day *delta*, not a target date, and the difference matters whenever the
+ * event's zone is not the reader's. The month grid's cells are local days; the
+ * event's stored date is in its own zone. Rewriting the stored date to the day
+ * that was dropped on put a Tokyo event dropped on the 11th onto the 10th,
+ * because 15:00 in Tokyo on the 11th is 23:00 in Phoenix on the 10th — the
+ * event went where its own calendar said, not where the pointer did.
+ *
+ * Shifting by the difference between the two local days moves it exactly as
+ * far as the hand did, and adding whole days to a wall clock leaves the time
+ * of day alone without touching the zone.
+ */
+export function moveByDaysPatch(storedStart: string, days: number): DragPatch {
   const base = parseStored(storedStart);
-  if (!base) return {};
-  const moved = new Date(day.getFullYear(), day.getMonth(), day.getDate(), base.getHours(), base.getMinutes(), base.getSeconds(), 0);
+  if (!base || !Number.isFinite(days)) return {};
+  const moved = new Date(base.getFullYear(), base.getMonth(), base.getDate() + Math.round(days), base.getHours(), base.getMinutes(), base.getSeconds(), 0);
   return { start: formatStored(moved) };
 }
 
+/** Whole days between two local dates, ignoring the time of day on each. */
+export function dayDelta(from: Date, to: Date): number {
+  const a = new Date(from.getFullYear(), from.getMonth(), from.getDate()).getTime();
+  const b = new Date(to.getFullYear(), to.getMonth(), to.getDate()).getTime();
+  return Math.round((b - a) / 86400_000);
+}
+
 /**
  * Resized from its end. Only the duration moves, so the start -- and with it
  * the whole question of zones -- is not touched at all.
diff --git a/web/src/views/calendar/CalendarView.tsx b/web/src/views/calendar/CalendarView.tsx
index 6e83d5a..735e6c1 100644
--- a/web/src/views/calendar/CalendarView.tsx
+++ b/web/src/views/calendar/CalendarView.tsx
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ import type { Anchor } from "@/ui/popover";
 import { CalendarContextMenu, eventColor, type CalendarContext } from "./CalendarContextMenu";
 import { toast } from "@/ui/toast";
 import { askEditScope, droppedMessage, runScoped } from "./scope";
-import { canDragEvent, moveToDayPatch, movePatch, pixelsToMinutes, resizePatch, snap, type DragPatch } from "@/lib/eventDrag";
+import { canDragEvent, dayDelta, moveByDaysPatch, movePatch, pixelsToMinutes, resizePatch, snap, type DragPatch } from "@/lib/eventDrag";
 import { t as translate } from "@/lib/i18n";
 
 type View = "month" | "week" | "day" | "agenda";
@@ -275,8 +275,10 @@ function MonthView({ anchor, weekStart, onDay, onEvent, onEventContext, onSlotCo
       // read as UTC and lands on the day before wherever the offset is negative.
       const parts = landedOn?.split("-").map(Number);
       const target = parts && parts.length === 3 ? new Date(parts[0]!, parts[1]! - 1, parts[2]!) : null;
+      // How far the hand moved it, in local days -- see moveByDaysPatch for
+      // why the target date itself is the wrong thing to write.
       if (target && !isSameDay(target, inst.start)) {
-        onDragCommit(inst, moveToDayPatch(inst.event.start, target));
+        onDragCommit(inst, moveByDaysPatch(inst.event.start, dayDelta(inst.start, target)));
       }
       window.setTimeout(() => (draggedRef.current = false), 0);
     };