diff --git a/docs/messages.rst b/docs/messages.rst
index af23ea9d..b39ebc24 100644
--- a/docs/messages.rst
+++ b/docs/messages.rst
@@ -80,6 +80,72 @@ Instantiate messages using either keyword arguments or a :class:`dict`
     >>> song.title
     'Canon in D'
 
+
+Assigning to Fields
+-------------------
+
+One of the goals of proto-plus is to make protobufs feel as much like regular python
+objects as possible. It is possible to update a message's field by assigning to it,
+just as if it were a regular python object.
+
+.. code-block:: python
+   song = Song()
+   song.composer = Composer(given_name="Johann", family_name="Bach")
+
+   # Can also assign from a dictionary as a convenience.
+   song.composer = {"given_name": "Claude", "family_name": "Debussy"}
+
+   # Repeated fields can also be assigned
+   class Album(proto.Message):
+       songs = proto.RepeatedField(Song, number=1)
+
+   a = Album()
+   songs = [Song(title="Canon in D"), Song(title="Little Fugue")]
+   a.songs = songs
+
+.. note::
+
+   Assigning to a proto-plus message field works by making copies, not by updating references.
+   This is necessary because of memory layout requirements of protocol buffers.
+   These memory constraints are maintained by the protocol buffers runtime.
+   This behavior can be surprising under certain circumstances, e.g. trying to save
+   an alias to a nested field.
+
+   :class:`proto.Message` defines a helper message, :meth:`~.Message.copy_from` to
+   help make the distinction clear when reading code.
+   The semantics of :meth:`~.Message.copy_from` are addentical to regular assignment.
+
+   .. code-block:: python
+
+      composer = Composer(given_name="Johann", family_name="Bach")
+      song = Song(title="Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor", composer=composer)
+      composer.given_name = "Wilhelm"
+
+      # 'composer' is NOT a reference to song.composer
+      assert song.composer.given_name == "Johann"
+
+      # We CAN update the song's composer by assignment.
+      song.composer = composer
+      composer.given_name = "Carl"
+
+      # 'composer' is STILL not a referene to song.composer.
+      assert song.composer.given_name == "Wilhelm"
+
+      # It does work in reverse, though,
+      # if we want a reference we can access then update.
+      composer = song.composer
+      composer.given_name = "Gottfried"
+
+      assert song.composer.given_name == "Gottfried"
+
+      # We can use 'copy_from' if we're concerned that the code
+      # implies that assignment involves references.
+      composer = Composer(given_name="Elisabeth", family_name="Bach")
+      Composer.copy_from(song.composer, composer)
+
+      assert song.composer.given_name == "Elisabeth"
+
+
 Enums
 -----
 
diff --git a/proto/message.py b/proto/message.py
index 68e5bb0a..e9c2e444 100644
--- a/proto/message.py
+++ b/proto/message.py
@@ -436,7 +436,7 @@ def __init__(self, mapping=None, *, ignore_unknown_fields=False, **kwargs):
             #
             # The `wrap` method on the metaclass is the public API for taking
             # ownership of the passed in protobuf objet.
-            mapping = copy.copy(mapping)
+            mapping = copy.deepcopy(mapping)
             if kwargs:
                 mapping.MergeFrom(self._meta.pb(**kwargs))
 
@@ -602,6 +602,35 @@ def __setattr__(self, key, value):
         if pb_value is not None:
             self._pb.MergeFrom(self._meta.pb(**{key: pb_value}))
 
+    def copy_from(self, other):
+        """Equivalent for protobuf.Message.CopyFrom
+
+        Args:
+            other: (Union[dict, ~.Message):
+                A dictionary or message to reinitialize the values for this message.
+        """
+        if isinstance(other, type(self)):
+            # Just want the underlying proto.
+            other = Message.pb(other)
+        elif isinstance(other, type(Message.pb(self))):
+            # Don't need to do anything.
+            pass
+        elif isinstance(other, collections.abc.Mapping):
+            # Coerce into a proto
+            other = type(Message.pb(self))(**other)
+        else:
+            raise TypeError(
+                "invalid argument type to copy to {}: {}".format(
+                    self.__class__.__name__, other.__class__.__name__
+                )
+            )
+
+        # Note: we can't just run self.__init__ because this may be a message field
+        # for a higher order proto; the memory layout for protos is NOT LIKE the
+        # python memory model. We cannot rely on just setting things by reference.
+        # Non-trivial complexity is (partially) hidden by the protobuf runtime.
+        self._pb.CopyFrom(other)
+
 
 class _MessageInfo:
     """Metadata about a message.
diff --git a/tests/test_message.py b/tests/test_message.py
index b723fcde..a77f554a 100644
--- a/tests/test_message.py
+++ b/tests/test_message.py
@@ -317,3 +317,27 @@ class Squid(proto.Message):
 
     s = Squid({"mass_kg": 20, "length_cm": 100}, ignore_unknown_fields=True)
     assert not hasattr(s, "length_cm")
+
+
+def test_copy_from():
+    class Mollusc(proto.Message):
+        class Squid(proto.Message):
+            mass_kg = proto.Field(proto.INT32, number=1)
+
+        squid = proto.Field(Squid, number=1)
+
+    m = Mollusc()
+    s = Mollusc.Squid(mass_kg=20)
+    Mollusc.Squid.copy_from(m.squid, s)
+    assert m.squid is not s
+    assert m.squid == s
+
+    s.mass_kg = 30
+    Mollusc.Squid.copy_from(m.squid, Mollusc.Squid.pb(s))
+    assert m.squid == s
+
+    Mollusc.Squid.copy_from(m.squid, {"mass_kg": 10})
+    assert m.squid.mass_kg == 10
+
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+        Mollusc.Squid.copy_from(m.squid, (("mass_kg", 20)))