diff --git a/packages/nx/src/daemon/client/client.ts b/packages/nx/src/daemon/client/client.ts
index 6f781e07868a8..c99c8e7f03b0b 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/daemon/client/client.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/daemon/client/client.ts
@@ -582,6 +582,12 @@ export class DaemonClient {
   }
 
   async startInBackground(): Promise<ChildProcess['pid']> {
+    if (global.NX_PLUGIN_WORKER) {
+      throw new Error(
+        'Fatal Error: Something unexpected has occurred. Plugin Workers should not start a new daemon process. Please report this issue.'
+      );
+    }
+
     mkdirSync(DAEMON_DIR_FOR_CURRENT_WORKSPACE, { recursive: true });
     if (!existsSync(DAEMON_OUTPUT_LOG_FILE)) {
       writeFileSync(DAEMON_OUTPUT_LOG_FILE, '');
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/daemon/server/server.ts b/packages/nx/src/daemon/server/server.ts
index 00c3c72ba339c..03a176a658987 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/daemon/server/server.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/daemon/server/server.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import { PackageJson } from '../../utils/package-json';
 import { nxVersion } from '../../utils/versions';
 import { setupWorkspaceContext } from '../../utils/workspace-context';
 import { workspaceRoot } from '../../utils/workspace-root';
-import { writeDaemonJsonProcessCache } from '../cache';
+import { getDaemonProcessIdSync, writeDaemonJsonProcessCache } from '../cache';
 import {
   getFullOsSocketPath,
   isWindows,
@@ -518,6 +518,17 @@ export async function startServer(): Promise<Server> {
       server.listen(getFullOsSocketPath(), async () => {
         try {
           serverLogger.log(`Started listening on: ${getFullOsSocketPath()}`);
+
+          setInterval(() => {
+            if (getDaemonProcessIdSync() !== process.pid) {
+              return handleServerProcessTermination({
+                server,
+                reason: 'this process is no longer the current daemon (native)',
+                sockets: openSockets,
+              });
+            }
+          }).unref();
+
           // this triggers the storage of the lock file hash
           daemonIsOutdated();
 
diff --git a/packages/nx/src/project-graph/plugins/isolation/plugin-worker.ts b/packages/nx/src/project-graph/plugins/isolation/plugin-worker.ts
index a5f9a82e0edd2..5a0569828c6c9 100644
--- a/packages/nx/src/project-graph/plugins/isolation/plugin-worker.ts
+++ b/packages/nx/src/project-graph/plugins/isolation/plugin-worker.ts
@@ -12,12 +12,23 @@ if (process.env.NX_PERF_LOGGING === 'true') {
 }
 
 global.NX_GRAPH_CREATION = true;
-
+global.NX_PLUGIN_WORKER = true;
+let connected = false;
 let plugin: LoadedNxPlugin;
 
 const socketPath = process.argv[2];
 
 const server = createServer((socket) => {
+  connected = true;
+  // This handles cases where the host process was killed
+  // after the worker connected but before the worker was
+  // instructed to load the plugin.
+  const loadTimeout = setTimeout(() => {
+    console.error(
+      `Plugin Worker exited because no plugin was loaded within 10 seconds of starting up.`
+    );
+    process.exit(1);
+  }, 10000).unref();
   socket.on(
     'data',
     consumeMessagesFromSocket((raw) => {
@@ -27,6 +38,7 @@ const server = createServer((socket) => {
       }
       return consumeMessage(socket, message, {
         load: async ({ plugin: pluginConfiguration, root }) => {
+          if (loadTimeout) clearTimeout(loadTimeout);
           process.chdir(root);
           try {
             const [promise] = loadNxPlugin(pluginConfiguration, root);
@@ -138,6 +150,8 @@ const server = createServer((socket) => {
   // since the worker is spawned per host process. As such,
   // we can safely close the worker when the host disconnects.
   socket.on('end', () => {
+    // Destroys the socket once it's fully closed.
+    socket.destroySoon();
     // Stops accepting new connections, but existing connections are
     // not closed immediately.
     server.close(() => {
@@ -146,13 +160,20 @@ const server = createServer((socket) => {
       } catch (e) {}
       process.exit(0);
     });
-    // Destroys the socket once it's fully closed.
-    socket.destroySoon();
   });
 });
 
 server.listen(socketPath);
 
+setTimeout(() => {
+  if (!connected) {
+    console.error(
+      'The plugin worker is exiting as it was not connected to within 5 seconds.'
+    );
+    process.exit(1);
+  }
+}, 5000).unref();
+
 const exitHandler = (exitCode: number) => () => {
   server.close();
   try {