diff --git a/bigquery/storage/managedwriter/managed_stream.go b/bigquery/storage/managedwriter/managed_stream.go
index 76a5d028421..6a18dd0f574 100644
--- a/bigquery/storage/managedwriter/managed_stream.go
+++ b/bigquery/storage/managedwriter/managed_stream.go
@@ -358,11 +358,8 @@ func (ms *ManagedStream) appendWithRetry(pw *pendingWrite, opts ...gax.CallOptio
 				}
 				continue
 			}
-			// We've got a non-retriable error, so propagate that up. and mark the write done.
-			ms.mu.Lock()
-			ms.err = appendErr
+			// Mark the pending write done.  This will not be returned to the user, they'll receive the returned error.
 			pw.markDone(nil, appendErr, ms.fc)
-			ms.mu.Unlock()
 			return appendErr
 		}
 		recordStat(ms.ctx, AppendRequests, 1)
diff --git a/bigquery/storage/managedwriter/managed_stream_test.go b/bigquery/storage/managedwriter/managed_stream_test.go
index 6d97c2ec579..be4564b0a33 100644
--- a/bigquery/storage/managedwriter/managed_stream_test.go
+++ b/bigquery/storage/managedwriter/managed_stream_test.go
@@ -300,7 +300,46 @@ func TestManagedStream_AppendWithDeadline(t *testing.T) {
 	if ct := ms.fc.count(); ct != wantCount {
 		t.Errorf("flowcontroller post-append count mismatch, got %d want %d", ct, wantCount)
 	}
+}
+
+func TestManagedStream_ContextExpiry(t *testing.T) {
+	// Issue: retaining error from append as stream error
+	// https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-go/issues/6657
+	ctx := context.Background()
 
+	ms := &ManagedStream{
+		ctx:            ctx,
+		streamSettings: defaultStreamSettings(),
+		fc:             newFlowController(0, 0),
+		open: openTestArc(&testAppendRowsClient{},
+			func(req *storagepb.AppendRowsRequest) error {
+				// Append is intentionally slow.
+				return nil
+			}, nil),
+	}
+	ms.schemaDescriptor = &descriptorpb.DescriptorProto{
+		Name: proto.String("testDescriptor"),
+	}
+	fakeData := [][]byte{
+		[]byte("foo"),
+	}
+
+	// Create a context and immediately cancel it.
+	cancelCtx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
+	cancel()
+
+	// First, append with an invalid context.
+	pw := newPendingWrite(cancelCtx, fakeData)
+	err := ms.appendWithRetry(pw)
+	if err != context.Canceled {
+		t.Errorf("expected cancelled context error, got: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	// a second append with a valid context should succeed
+	_, err = ms.AppendRows(ctx, fakeData)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Errorf("expected second append to succeed, but failed: %v", err)
+	}
 }
 
 func TestManagedStream_AppendDeadlocks(t *testing.T) {