diff -r 1a5661fe179d django/db/models/base.py
--- a/django/db/models/base.py	Tue Nov 16 15:14:04 2010 +0000
+++ b/django/db/models/base.py	Tue Nov 16 23:30:27 2010 +0100
@@ -126,13 +126,14 @@
         o2o_map = dict([(f.rel.to, f) for f in new_class._meta.local_fields
                 if isinstance(f, OneToOneField)])
 
-        for base in parents:
+        for creation_level, base in enumerate(parents):
             original_base = base
             if not hasattr(base, '_meta'):
                 # Things without _meta aren't functional models, so they're
                 # uninteresting parents.
                 continue
 
+            new_class._meta.creation_level = creation_level + 1
             parent_fields = base._meta.local_fields + base._meta.local_many_to_many
             # Check for clashes between locally declared fields and those
             # on the base classes (we cannot handle shadowed fields at the
diff -r 1a5661fe179d django/db/models/fields/__init__.py
--- a/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py	Tue Nov 16 15:14:04 2010 +0000
+++ b/django/db/models/fields/__init__.py	Tue Nov 16 23:30:27 2010 +0100
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
     # The auto_creation_counter is used for fields that Django implicitly
     # creates, creation_counter is used for all user-specified fields.
     creation_counter = 0
+    creation_level = 0
     auto_creation_counter = -1
     default_validators = [] # Default set of validators
     default_error_messages = {
@@ -121,7 +122,9 @@
 
     def __cmp__(self, other):
         # This is needed because bisect does not take a comparison function.
-        return cmp(self.creation_counter, other.creation_counter)
+        if self.creation_counter <= -1 or other.creation_counter <= -1:
+            return cmp(self.creation_counter, other.creation_counter) 
+        return cmp((self.creation_level, self.creation_counter), (other.creation_level, other.creation_counter))
 
     def __deepcopy__(self, memodict):
         # We don't have to deepcopy very much here, since most things are not
diff -r 1a5661fe179d django/db/models/options.py
--- a/django/db/models/options.py	Tue Nov 16 15:14:04 2010 +0000
+++ b/django/db/models/options.py	Tue Nov 16 23:30:27 2010 +0100
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 class Options(object):
     def __init__(self, meta, app_label=None):
         self.local_fields, self.local_many_to_many = [], []
+        self.creation_level = 0
         self.virtual_fields = []
         self.module_name, self.verbose_name = None, None
         self.verbose_name_plural = None
@@ -148,6 +149,7 @@
         # the "creation_counter" attribute of the field.
         # Move many-to-many related fields from self.fields into
         # self.many_to_many.
+        field.creation_level = self.creation_level
         if field.rel and isinstance(field.rel, ManyToManyRel):
             self.local_many_to_many.insert(bisect(self.local_many_to_many, field), field)
             if hasattr(self, '_m2m_cache'):