diff --git a/lib/datastore/index.js b/lib/datastore/index.js
index 53ebc0acb1c..5122faf73f2 100644
--- a/lib/datastore/index.js
+++ b/lib/datastore/index.js
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ Transaction.prototype.begin = function(callback) {
   var that = this;
   this.makeReq('beginTransaction', null, function(err, resp) {
     if (!err) {
-      that.id = resp;
+      that.id = resp.transaction;
     }
     callback && callback(err);
   });
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ Transaction.prototype.rollback = function(callback) {
 
 /**
  * Commit commits the remote transaction and finalizes the
- * current transaction insance.
+ * current transaction instance.
  */
 Transaction.prototype.commit = function(callback) {
   var that = this;
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ Transaction.prototype.commit = function(callback) {
 };
 
 /**
- * Finalize commits a transction if it's not finalized yet.
+ * Finalize commits a transaction if it's not finalized yet.
  */
 Transaction.prototype.finalize = function(callback) {
   if (!this.isFinalized) {
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ Transaction.prototype.saveAll = function(keys, objs, callback) {
   }
   for (var i = 0; i < keys.length; i++) {
     var e = entity.entityToEntityProto(objs[i]);
-    e.key = entity.keyToKeyProto(this.id, keys[i]);
+    e.key = entity.keyToKeyProto(this.datasetId, keys[i]);
     if (entity.isKeyComplete(keys[i])) {
       req.mutation.upsert.push(e);
     } else {
@@ -294,6 +294,8 @@ Transaction.prototype.mapQuery = function(q, mapperFn, opt_callback) {
  */
 Transaction.prototype.makeReq = function(method, req, callback) {
   // TODO(jbd): Switch to protobuf API.
+  // Always pass a value for json to automagically get headers/response parsing.
+  req = req || true;
   this.conn.req({
     method: 'POST',
     uri: DATASTORE_BASE_URL + '/' + this.datasetId + '/' + method,