diff --git a/src/CutterApplication.cpp b/src/CutterApplication.cpp
index 0801727a..1023105e 100644
--- a/src/CutterApplication.cpp
+++ b/src/CutterApplication.cpp
@@ -119,6 +119,8 @@ CutterApplication::CutterApplication(int &argc, char **argv) : QApplication(argc
         }
     }
 
+    loadPlugins();
+
     mainWindow = new MainWindow();
     installEventFilter(mainWindow);
 
@@ -161,9 +163,6 @@ CutterApplication::CutterApplication(int &argc, char **argv) : QApplication(argc
         mainWindow->openNewFile(options, analLevelSpecified);
     }
 
-    // Load plugins
-    loadPlugins();
-
 #ifdef CUTTER_APPVEYOR_R2DEC
     qputenv("R2DEC_HOME", "radare2\\lib\\plugins\\r2dec-js");
 #endif
diff --git a/src/plugins/CutterPythonPlugin.cpp b/src/plugins/CutterPythonPlugin.cpp
index 9764edcc..a85058be 100644
--- a/src/plugins/CutterPythonPlugin.cpp
+++ b/src/plugins/CutterPythonPlugin.cpp
@@ -80,10 +80,23 @@ CutterDockWidget* CutterPythonPlugin::setupInterface(MainWindow *main, QAction *
     PyObject *pWidget = nullptr;
     Python()->restoreThread();
     pWidget = PyObject_CallMethod(pInstance, "setupInterface", nullptr);
+
     if (!pWidget) {
         qWarning() << "Error in setupInterface().";
         PyErr_Print();
+        Python()->saveThread();
+        return nullptr;
     }
+
+    if (!PyLong_Check(pWidget)) {
+        qWarning() << "Value returned by setupInterface() is not PyLong.";
+        Python()->saveThread();
+        return nullptr;
+    }
+
+    auto dockWidget = reinterpret_cast<QDockWidget *>(PyLong_AsLong(pWidget));
+    printf("plugin gave me this: %s\n", dockWidget->objectName().toLocal8Bit().constData());
+
     Python()->saveThread();
 
     return nullptr;
diff --git a/src/plugins/pluginSample.py b/src/plugins/pluginSample.py
index a57f3318..23d3c3e0 100644
--- a/src/plugins/pluginSample.py
+++ b/src/plugins/pluginSample.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import cutter
 from cutter_plugin import CutterPlugin
 from PySide2 import QtCore, QtWidgets
+import shiboken2
 
 class CutterSamplePlugin(CutterPlugin):
     def setupPlugin(self):
@@ -12,11 +13,17 @@ class CutterSamplePlugin(CutterPlugin):
 
     def setupInterface(self):
         print('Creating the dock widget...')
-        main_window = self.app.findChild('MainWindow')
+        main_window = None
+        for widget in QtWidgets.QApplication.topLevelWidgets():
+            if widget.objectName() == "MainWindow":
+                main_window = widget
         dock_widget = QtWidgets.QDockWidget(main_window)
+        dock_widget.setObjectName("FancyDockWidgetFromCoolPlugin")
         dock_widget.setWindowTitle('Test Widget')
         print(main_window, dock_widget)
-        return dock_widget
+        ptr = shiboken2.getCppPointer(dock_widget)[0]
+        print(ptr)
+        return ptr
 
 
 # Instantiate our plugin