diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9ef1ec1..394bc16 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 Docker Role
 =========
 
-Install docker-engine
+Install docker-engine and optionally docker-compose
 
 Role Variables
 --------------
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ Role Variables
 - `docker_log_driver` (optional): Log driver to use. Default: 'json-file'
 - `docker_logs_opts` (optional): Log driver options. Default: { 'max-file': '3', 'max-size': '100m' }
 - `docker_pip_package` (optional): The name of the packge to install to get pip on the system. For older systems that don't have Python 3 available, you can set this to `python-pip`. Default: `python3-pip`
+- `docker_compose_version` (optional): if provided, docker-compose will be installed with the requested version. Default: "", i.e. docker-compose is not installed by default.
 
 Dependencies
 --------------
diff --git a/defaults/main.yml b/defaults/main.yml
index ae3ab51..7d8e41c 100644
--- a/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/defaults/main.yml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ docker_options:
   storage-driver : "{{ docker_storage_driver  |default(None) }}"
   log-driver:      "{{ docker_log_driver      |default('json-file') }}"
   log-opts:        "{{ docker_logs_opts       |default( { 'max-file': '3', 'max-size': '100m' } ) }}"
+docker_compose_version: ""
   
 
 
diff --git a/tasks/common.yml b/tasks/common.yml
index 88de8b8..47a2255 100644
--- a/tasks/common.yml
+++ b/tasks/common.yml
@@ -11,3 +11,7 @@
 
 - name: "Configure docker"
   include: configure.yml
+
+- name: "Install compose"
+  pip: name="docker-compose" state="present" version="{{ docker_compose_version }}"
+  when: docker_compose_version != ""