diff --git a/scanner.go b/scanner.go
index 4bd0291..5ffb7c4 100644
--- a/scanner.go
+++ b/scanner.go
@@ -58,7 +58,8 @@ func scan(b []byte) ([]byte, []byte, error) {
 	case comment:
 		return scanComment(b)
 	case ' ', '\t':
-		return scanWhitespace(b)
+		data, rest := scanWhitespace(b)
+		return data, rest, nil
 	case '\r':
 		return scanWindowsNewline(b)
 	case '\n':
diff --git a/toml.go b/toml.go
index 32c03ad..bf6d290 100644
--- a/toml.go
+++ b/toml.go
@@ -92,6 +92,126 @@ func parseKeyval(b []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 func parseVal(b []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 	// val = string / boolean / array / inline-table / date-time / float / integer
 
+	c := b[0]
+
+	switch c {
+	// strings
+	case '"':
+		var rest []byte
+		var err error
+		if scanFollowsMultilineBasicStringDelimiter(b) {
+			_, rest, err = parseMultilineBasicString(b)
+		} else {
+			_, rest, err = parseBasicString(b)
+		}
+		return rest, err
+	case '\'':
+		if scanFollowsMultilineLiteralStringDelimiter(b) {
+			return parseMultilineLiteralString(b)
+		}
+		_, rest, err := scanLiteralString(b)
+		return rest, err
+	// TODO boolean
+
+	// TODO array
+
+	// TODO inline-table
+
+	// TODO date-time
+
+	// TODO float
+
+	// TODO integer
+	default:
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unexpected char")
+	}
+}
+
+func parseMultilineBasicString(b []byte) (string, []byte, error) {
+	//ml-basic-string = ml-basic-string-delim [ newline ] ml-basic-body
+	//ml-basic-string-delim
+	//ml-basic-string-delim = 3quotation-mark
+	//ml-basic-body = *mlb-content *( mlb-quotes 1*mlb-content ) [ mlb-quotes ]
+	//
+	//mlb-content = mlb-char / newline / mlb-escaped-nl
+	//mlb-char = mlb-unescaped / escaped
+	//mlb-quotes = 1*2quotation-mark
+	//mlb-unescaped = wschar / %x21 / %x23-5B / %x5D-7E / non-ascii
+	//mlb-escaped-nl = escape ws newline *( wschar / newline )
+
+	token, rest, err := scanMultilineBasicString(b)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", nil, err
+	}
+	var builder strings.Builder
+
+	i := 3
+
+	// skip the immediate new line
+	if token[i] == '\n' {
+		i++
+	} else if token[i] == '\r' && token[i+1] == '\n' {
+		i += 2
+	}
+
+	// The scanner ensures that the token starts and ends with quotes and that
+	// escapes are balanced.
+	for ; i < len(token)-3; i++ {
+		c := token[i]
+		if c == '\\' {
+			// When the last non-whitespace character on a line is an unescaped \,
+			// it will be trimmed along with all whitespace (including newlines) up
+			// to the next non-whitespace character or closing delimiter.
+			if token[i+1] == '\n' || (token[i+1] == '\r' && token[i+2] == '\n') {
+				i++ // skip the \
+				for ; i < len(token)-3; i++ {
+					c := token[i]
+					if !(c == '\n' || c == '\r' || c == ' ' || c == '\t') {
+						break
+					}
+				}
+				continue
+			}
+
+			// handle escaping
+			i++
+			c = token[i]
+			switch c {
+			case '"', '\\':
+				builder.WriteByte(c)
+			case 'b':
+				builder.WriteByte('\b')
+			case 'f':
+				builder.WriteByte('\f')
+			case 'n':
+				builder.WriteByte('\n')
+			case 'r':
+				builder.WriteByte('\r')
+			case 't':
+				builder.WriteByte('\t')
+			case 'u':
+				x, err := hexToString(token[i+3:len(token)-3], 4)
+				if err != nil {
+					return "", nil, err
+				}
+				builder.WriteString(x)
+				i += 4
+			case 'U':
+				x, err := hexToString(token[i+3:len(token)-3], 8)
+				if err != nil {
+					return "", nil, err
+				}
+				builder.WriteString(x)
+				i += 8
+			default:
+				return "", nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid escaped character: %#U", c)
+			}
+		} else {
+			builder.WriteByte(c)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return builder.String(), rest, nil
 }
 
 func parseKey(b []byte) ([]byte, error) {