diff --git a/VERSIONS b/VERSIONS
index ade2e24..747c467 100644
--- a/VERSIONS
+++ b/VERSIONS
@@ -54,4 +54,9 @@
 - deprecates `:content_type` option and renames it `:encoding`
 
 # 1.1.1
-- updates elixir versioning requirements
\ No newline at end of file
+- updates elixir versioning requirements
+
+# 1.1.2
+- adds extra message when the reference pointer is not found
+- fixes bug where references are not recursively cached when the entrypoint
+  isn't the root entrypoint
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/exonerate.ex b/lib/exonerate.ex
index 4e5560a..8504cae 100644
--- a/lib/exonerate.ex
+++ b/lib/exonerate.ex
@@ -510,6 +510,7 @@ defmodule Exonerate do
       if id = id_from(schema) do
         resource = id
         Cache.put_schema(caller.module, resource, schema)
+
         resource
       else
         resource_uri
diff --git a/lib/exonerate/cache.ex b/lib/exonerate/cache.ex
index 9891b29..190960c 100644
--- a/lib/exonerate/cache.ex
+++ b/lib/exonerate/cache.ex
@@ -161,6 +161,11 @@ defmodule Exonerate.Cache do
     put_schema(module, resource_uri, new_schema)
 
     :ok
+  rescue
+    KeyError ->
+      raise CompileError,
+        description:
+          "reference points to: #{JsonPtr.to_uri(pointer)}, this location not found in the schema"
   end
 
   @spec has_schema?(module, resource_uri :: String.t()) :: boolean
@@ -178,6 +183,10 @@ defmodule Exonerate.Cache do
       {tgt_resource, tgt_pointer}
   end
 
+  defmatchspecp get_ref_pointers_ms(module, tgt_resource) do
+    {{:ref, {^module, ^tgt_resource, _}}, {^module, ^tgt_resource, tgt_pointer}} -> tgt_pointer
+  end
+
   def register_ref(module, ref_resource, ref_pointer, tgt_resource, tgt_pointer) do
     :ets.insert(
       get_table(),
@@ -189,11 +198,17 @@ defmodule Exonerate.Cache do
 
   def traverse_ref!(module, ref_resource, ref_pointer) do
     case :ets.select(get_table(), get_ref_ms(module, ref_resource, ref_pointer)) do
-      [] -> raise "ref not found"
+      [] -> raise "ref at #{JsonPtr.to_uri(ref_pointer)} not found"
       [ref] -> ref
     end
   end
 
+  def all_ref_pointers(module, ref_resource) do
+    get_table()
+    |> :ets.select(get_ref_pointers_ms(module, ref_resource))
+    |> MapSet.new()
+  end
+
   # CONTEXTS
 
   def register_context(module, call) when is_atom(call) do
@@ -212,7 +227,6 @@ defmodule Exonerate.Cache do
     end
   end
 
-  require MatchSpec
   @all MatchSpec.fun2ms(fn any -> any end)
   def dump do
     :ets.select(get_table(), @all)
diff --git a/lib/exonerate/schema.ex b/lib/exonerate/schema.ex
index 140b5b4..b8deec8 100644
--- a/lib/exonerate/schema.ex
+++ b/lib/exonerate/schema.ex
@@ -17,8 +17,26 @@ defmodule Exonerate.Schema do
     json_decoded
     |> Degeneracy.canonicalize(opts)
     |> tap(&Cache.put_schema(caller.module, resource, &1))
+    |> cache_assignments(caller, resource, opts)
+  end
+
+  defp cache_assignments(schema, caller, resource, opts, seen \\ MapSet.new()) do
+    schema
     |> Id.prescan(caller.module, resource, opts)
     |> ref_prescan(caller, resource, opts)
+
+    # recursively jump into references and go ahead run cache assignments on them.
+    caller.module
+    |> Cache.all_ref_pointers(resource)
+    |> Enum.reject(&(&1 in seen))
+    |> Enum.reduce(seen, fn pointer, seen_so_far ->
+      new_seen = MapSet.put(seen_so_far, pointer)
+      new_opts = Keyword.replace(opts, :entrypoint, JsonPtr.to_path(pointer))
+      cache_assignments(schema, caller, resource, new_opts, new_seen)
+      Cache.all_ref_pointers(caller.module, resource)
+    end)
+
+    schema
   end
 
   @doc """
diff --git a/mix.exs b/mix.exs
index 699ba08..86b4b25 100644
--- a/mix.exs
+++ b/mix.exs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ defmodule Exonerate.MixProject do
   def project do
     [
       app: :exonerate,
-      version: "1.1.1",
+      version: "1.1.2",
       elixir: "~> 1.14",
       start_permanent: Mix.env() == :prod,
       deps: deps(),
diff --git a/test/errors/ref_not_found_root.exs b/test/errors/ref_not_found_root.exs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ffcbfd6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/errors/ref_not_found_root.exs
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+defmodule ExonerateTest.RefNotFoundRoot do
+  require Exonerate
+
+  Exonerate.function_from_string(
+    :defp,
+    :yaml,
+    """
+    type: object
+    parameters:
+      foo:
+        $ref: "#/definitions/foo"
+    """,
+    encoding: "application/yaml"
+  )
+end
diff --git a/test/errors/ref_not_found_test.exs b/test/errors/ref_not_found_test.exs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fcae623
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/errors/ref_not_found_test.exs
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+defmodule ExonerateTest.RefNotFoundTest do
+  use ExUnit.Case, async: true
+
+  test "if there's a missing ref, we get a CompileError" do
+    assert_raise CompileError,
+                 "reference points to: #/definitions/foo, this location not found in the schema",
+                 fn ->
+                   __DIR__
+                   |> Path.join("ref_not_found_root.exs")
+                   |> Code.compile_file()
+                 end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/format_test.exs b/test/format_test.exs
index 5a2fdb1..5573a91 100644
--- a/test/format_test.exs
+++ b/test/format_test.exs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 defmodule ExonerateTest.FormatTest do
   use ExUnit.Case, async: true
-
   require Exonerate
 
   describe "builtin formats:" do
diff --git a/test/regression_test.exs b/test/regression/general_test.exs
similarity index 100%
rename from test/regression_test.exs
rename to test/regression/general_test.exs
diff --git a/test/regression/nested_ref_test.exs b/test/regression/nested_ref_test.exs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..298d806
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/regression/nested_ref_test.exs
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+defmodule ExonerateTest.Regression.NestedRefTest do
+  require Exonerate
+
+  # combining an entrypoint with a $ref fails.
+  Exonerate.function_from_string(
+    :def,
+    :ref_trace_entrypoint,
+    ~S"""
+    schema:
+      type: object
+      properties:
+        bar:
+          $ref: '#/one'
+    one:
+      type: object
+      properties:
+        foo: 
+          $ref: '#/two'
+    two:
+      type: string
+    """,
+    encoding: "application/yaml",
+    entrypoint: "/schema"
+  )
+end