diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c56a231..0500c3c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -3,3 +3,4 @@
 vendor
 node_modules/
 composer.lock
+.phpunit.result.cache
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index cf2a9b7..f7aaadb 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@
 	],
 	"license": "LGPL-2.1-only",
 	"require": {
+		"ext-dom": "*",
+		"ext-libxml": "*",
 		"php": ">=7.2"
 	},
 	"autoload": {
diff --git a/src/Component.php b/src/Component.php
index 2389357..50e3856 100644
--- a/src/Component.php
+++ b/src/Component.php
@@ -4,14 +4,10 @@
 
 use DOMAttr;
 use DOMCharacterData;
-use DOMDocument;
 use DOMElement;
 use DOMNode;
 use DOMNodeList;
 use DOMText;
-use Exception;
-use LibXMLError;
-
 use WMDE\VueJsTemplating\JsParsing\BasicJsExpressionParser;
 use WMDE\VueJsTemplating\JsParsing\CachingExpressionParser;
 use WMDE\VueJsTemplating\JsParsing\JsExpressionParser;
@@ -19,9 +15,9 @@
 class Component {
 
 	/**
-	 * @var string HTML
+	 * @var DOMElement
 	 */
-	private $template;
+	private $rootNode;
 
 	/**
 	 * @var JsExpressionParser
@@ -29,79 +25,26 @@ class Component {
 	private $expressionParser;
 
 	/**
-	 * @param string $template HTML
+	 * @param DOMElement $rootNode
 	 * @param callable[] $methods
 	 */
-	public function __construct( $template, array $methods ) {
-		$this->template = $template;
+	public function __construct( DOMElement $rootNode, array $methods ) {
+		$this->rootNode = $rootNode;
 		$this->expressionParser = new CachingExpressionParser( new BasicJsExpressionParser( $methods ) );
 	}
 
 	/**
+	 * Note: this method is not currently safe to call repeatedly
+	 * (the internal root node is modified in-place).
+	 *
 	 * @param array $data
 	 *
 	 * @return string HTML
 	 */
 	public function render( array $data ) {
-		$document = $this->parseHtml( $this->template );
-
-		$rootNode = $this->getRootNode( $document );
-		$this->handleNode( $rootNode, $data );
-
-		return $document->saveHTML( $rootNode );
-	}
-
-	/**
-	 * @param string $html HTML
-	 *
-	 * @return DOMDocument
-	 */
-	private function parseHtml( $html ) {
-		if ( LIBXML_VERSION < 20900 ) {
-			$entityLoaderDisabled = libxml_disable_entity_loader( true );
-		}
-		$internalErrors = libxml_use_internal_errors( true );
-		$document = new DOMDocument( '1.0', 'UTF-8' );
-
-		// Ensure $html is treated as UTF-8, see https://stackoverflow.com/a/8218649
-		// LIBXML_NOBLANKS Constant excludes "ghost nodes" to avoid violating
-		// vue's single root node constraint
-		if ( !$document->loadHTML( '<?xml encoding="utf-8" ?>' . $html, LIBXML_NOBLANKS ) ) {
-			//TODO Test failure
-		}
-
-		/** @var LibXMLError[] $errors */
-		$errors = libxml_get_errors();
-		libxml_clear_errors();
-
-		// Restore previous state
-		libxml_use_internal_errors( $internalErrors );
-		if ( LIBXML_VERSION < 20900 ) {
-			libxml_disable_entity_loader( $entityLoaderDisabled );
-		}
-
-		foreach ( $errors as $error ) {
-			//TODO html5 tags can fail parsing
-			//TODO Throw an exception
-		}
-
-		return $document;
-	}
-
-	/**
-	 * @param DOMDocument $document
-	 *
-	 * @return DOMElement
-	 * @throws Exception
-	 */
-	private function getRootNode( DOMDocument $document ) {
-		$rootNodes = $document->documentElement->childNodes->item( 0 )->childNodes;
-
-		if ( $rootNodes->length > 1 ) {
-			throw new Exception( 'Template should have only one root node' );
-		}
+		$this->handleNode( $this->rootNode, $data );
 
-		return $rootNodes->item( 0 );
+		return $this->rootNode->ownerDocument->saveHTML( $this->rootNode );
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -245,8 +188,9 @@ private function handleFor( DOMNode $node, array $data ) {
 	}
 
 	private function appendHTML( DOMNode $parent, $source ) {
-		$tmpDoc = $this->parseHtml( $source );
-		foreach ( $tmpDoc->getElementsByTagName( 'body' )->item( 0 )->childNodes as $node ) {
+		$htmlParser = new HtmlParser();
+		$tmpDoc = $htmlParser->parseHtml( $source );
+		foreach ( $htmlParser->getBodyElement( $tmpDoc )->childNodes as $node ) {
 			$node = $parent->ownerDocument->importNode( $node, true );
 			$parent->appendChild( $node );
 		}
diff --git a/src/HtmlParser.php b/src/HtmlParser.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..acd9e89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/HtmlParser.php
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+<?php
+
+declare( strict_types = 1 );
+
+namespace WMDE\VueJsTemplating;
+
+use DOMDocument;
+use DOMElement;
+use Exception;
+use LibXMLError;
+
+/**
+ * Methods for parsing HTML strings and extracting elements from them.
+ */
+class HtmlParser {
+
+	/**
+	 * Parse the given HTML string into a DOM document.
+	 */
+	public function parseHtml( string $html ): DOMDocument {
+		if ( LIBXML_VERSION < 20900 ) {
+			$entityLoaderDisabled = libxml_disable_entity_loader( true );
+		}
+		$internalErrors = libxml_use_internal_errors( true );
+		$document = new DOMDocument( '1.0', 'UTF-8' );
+
+		// Ensure $html is treated as UTF-8, see https://stackoverflow.com/a/8218649
+		// LIBXML_NOBLANKS Constant excludes "ghost nodes" to avoid violating
+		// vue's single root node constraint
+		if ( !$document->loadHTML( '<?xml encoding="utf-8" ?>' . $html, LIBXML_NOBLANKS ) ) {
+			//TODO Test failure
+		}
+
+		/** @var LibXMLError[] $errors */
+		$errors = libxml_get_errors();
+		libxml_clear_errors();
+
+		// Restore previous state
+		libxml_use_internal_errors( $internalErrors );
+		if ( LIBXML_VERSION < 20900 ) {
+			libxml_disable_entity_loader( $entityLoaderDisabled );
+		}
+
+		foreach ( $errors as $error ) {
+			//TODO html5 tags can fail parsing
+			//TODO Throw an exception
+		}
+
+		return $document;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Get the root node of the template represented by the given document.
+	 */
+	public function getRootNode( DOMDocument $document ): DOMElement {
+		$htmlElement = $this->getHtmlElement( $document );
+		$headOrBody = $this->getSoleHeadOrBody( $htmlElement );
+		$rootNodeParent = $this->getTemplateElement( $headOrBody ) ?? $headOrBody;
+		$rootNode = $this->getOnlySubstantialChild( $rootNodeParent );
+		return $rootNode;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Get the `<html>` element of the given document.
+	 */
+	public function getHtmlElement( DOMDocument $document ): DOMElement {
+		$documentElement = $document->documentElement;
+		if ( $documentElement === null ) {
+			throw new Exception( 'Empty document' );
+		}
+		if ( $documentElement->tagName !== 'html' ) {
+			throw new Exception( "Expected <html>, got <{$documentElement->tagName}>" );
+		}
+		return $documentElement;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Get the `<body>` element of the given document.
+	 */
+	public function getBodyElement( DOMDocument $document ): DOMElement {
+		$htmlElement = $this->getHtmlElement( $document );
+		$bodyElement = $htmlElement->childNodes[0];
+		if ( $bodyElement->tagName !== 'body' ) {
+			throw new Exception( "Expected <body>, got <{$bodyElement->tagName}>" );
+		}
+		return $bodyElement;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Get the `<head>` or `<body>` element of the given document,
+	 * asserting that it is the only child (cannot have both nor any other children).
+	 */
+	private function getSoleHeadOrBody( DOMElement $htmlElement ): DOMElement {
+		$length = $htmlElement->childNodes->length;
+		if ( $length !== 1 ) {
+			throw new Exception( "Expected exactly 1 <html> child, got $length" );
+		}
+
+		$child = $htmlElement->childNodes[0];
+		$tagName = $child->tagName;
+		if ( $tagName !== 'head' && $tagName !== 'body' ) {
+			throw new Exception( "Expected <head> or <body>, got <$tagName>" );
+		}
+
+		return $child;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Get the `<template>` element of the given `<head>` or `<body>` element,
+	 * discarding any adjacent `<script>` or `<style>` elements
+	 * if the input is in Single-File Component (SFC) syntax.
+	 */
+	private function getTemplateElement( DOMElement $rootElement ): ?DOMElement {
+		$onlyTemplateElement = null;
+		foreach ( $rootElement->childNodes as $node ) {
+			if ( $node->nodeType === XML_COMMENT_NODE ) {
+				// comment node, ignore
+				continue;
+			} elseif ( $node->nodeType === XML_TEXT_NODE ) {
+				if ( trim( $node->textContent ) === '' ) {
+					// whitespace-only text node, ignore
+					continue;
+				} else {
+					// not SFC
+					$onlyTemplateElement = null;
+					break;
+				}
+			}
+			if ( $node->tagName === 'template' ) {
+				if ( $onlyTemplateElement === null ) {
+					$onlyTemplateElement = $node;
+				} else {
+					// more than one <template>, handle as non-SFC and throw error below
+					$onlyTemplateElement = null;
+					break;
+				}
+			} elseif ( $node->tagName !== 'script' && $node->tagName !== 'style' ) {
+				// top-level tag other than <template>, <script> or <style> => not SFC
+				$onlyTemplateElement = null;
+				break;
+			}
+		}
+		return $onlyTemplateElement;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Get the only “substantial” child of the given element.
+	 * Ignore any adjacent comments or whitespace-only text nodes
+	 * (such as line breaks or indentation).
+	 */
+	private function getOnlySubstantialChild( DOMElement $element ): DOMElement {
+		$onlySubstantialChild = null;
+		foreach ( $element->childNodes as $node ) {
+			if ( $node->nodeType === XML_COMMENT_NODE ) {
+				// comment node, ignore
+				continue;
+			} elseif ( $node->nodeType === XML_TEXT_NODE && trim( $node->textContent ) === '' ) {
+				// whitespace-only text node, ignore
+				continue;
+			}
+			if ( $onlySubstantialChild === null ) {
+				$onlySubstantialChild = $node;
+			} else {
+				throw new Exception( 'Template should only have one root node' );
+			}
+		}
+
+		if ( $onlySubstantialChild !== null ) {
+			return $onlySubstantialChild;
+		} else {
+			throw new Exception( 'Template contained no root node' );
+		}
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/src/Templating.php b/src/Templating.php
index 77258e0..a7d3deb 100644
--- a/src/Templating.php
+++ b/src/Templating.php
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ class Templating {
 	 * @return string
 	 */
 	public function render( $template, array $data, array $methods = [] ) {
-		$component = new Component( $template, $methods );
+		$htmlParser = new HtmlParser();
+		$document = $htmlParser->parseHtml( $template );
+		$rootNode = $htmlParser->getRootNode( $document );
+		$component = new Component( $rootNode, $methods );
 		return $component->render( $data );
 	}
 
diff --git a/tests/php/HtmlParserTest.php b/tests/php/HtmlParserTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..af824b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/php/HtmlParserTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace WMDE\VueJsTemplating\Test;
+
+use DOMElement;
+use Exception;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+use WMDE\VueJsTemplating\HtmlParser;
+
+/**
+ * @covers \WMDE\VueJsTemplating\HtmlParser
+ */
+class HtmlParserTest extends TestCase {
+
+	private function parseAndGetRootNode( string $html ): DOMElement {
+		$htmlParser = new HtmlParser();
+		$document = $htmlParser->parseHtml( $html );
+		return $htmlParser->getRootNode( $document );
+	}
+
+	private function assertIsDivTest( DOMElement $element ): void {
+		$this->assertSame( 'div', $element->tagName );
+		$this->assertSame( 'test', $element->getAttribute( 'class' ) );
+	}
+
+	public function testSingleRootNode(): void {
+		$rootNode = $this->parseAndGetRootNode( '<div class="test"></div>' );
+		$this->assertIsDivTest( $rootNode );
+	}
+
+	public function testSingleFileComponent_OnlyTemplate(): void {
+		$rootNode = $this->parseAndGetRootNode( '<template><div class="test"></div></template>' );
+		$this->assertIsDivTest( $rootNode );
+	}
+
+	public function testSingleFileComponent_TemplateAndScriptAndStyle(): void {
+		$template = '<template><div class="test"></div></template><script></script><style></style>';
+		$rootNode = $this->parseAndGetRootNode( $template );
+		$this->assertIsDivTest( $rootNode );
+	}
+
+	public function testSingleFileComponent_ScriptAndTemplateAndStyle(): void {
+		$template = '<script></script><template><div class="test"></div></template><style></style>';
+		$rootNode = $this->parseAndGetRootNode( $template );
+		$this->assertIsDivTest( $rootNode );
+	}
+
+	public function testEmptyDocument(): void {
+		$this->expectException( Exception::class );
+		$this->expectExceptionMessage( 'Empty document' );
+		$this->parseAndGetRootNode( '' );
+	}
+
+	public function testHeadElement(): void {
+		$html = '<html><head><title>Title</title></head><body>ABC</body></html>';
+		$this->expectException( Exception::class );
+		$this->expectExceptionMessage( 'Expected exactly 1 <html> child, got 2' );
+		$this->parseAndGetRootNode( $html );
+	}
+
+	public function testTwoRootNodes() {
+		$this->expectException( Exception::class );
+		$this->parseAndGetRootNode( '<p></p><p></p>' );
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/tests/php/TemplatingTest.php b/tests/php/TemplatingTest.php
index a6dc50a..0092bb6 100644
--- a/tests/php/TemplatingTest.php
+++ b/tests/php/TemplatingTest.php
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 use WMDE\VueJsTemplating\Templating;
 
 /**
+ * @covers \WMDE\VueJsTemplating\Component
+ * @covers \WMDE\VueJsTemplating\HtmlParser
  * @covers \WMDE\VueJsTemplating\Templating
  */
 class TemplatingTest extends TestCase {
@@ -17,9 +19,24 @@ public function testJustASingleEmptyHtmlElement() {
 		$this->assertSame( '<div></div>', $result );
 	}
 
-	public function testTemplateHasTwoRootNodes_ThrowsAnException() {
-		$this->expectException( Exception::class );
-		$this->createAndRender( '<p></p><p></p>', [] );
+	public function testSingleFileComponent(): void {
+		$template = <<< 'EOF'
+<template>
+	<!-- eslint-disable-next-line something -->
+	<div></div>
+</template>
+<script setup>
+const something = 'something';
+</script>
+<style scoped>
+.some-class {
+	font-weight: bold;
+}
+</style>
+EOF;
+		$result = $this->createAndRender( $template, [] );
+
+		$this->assertSame( '<div></div>', $result );
 	}
 
 	public function testTemplateHasOnClickHandler_RemoveHandlerFormOutput() {