diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 40f4754..4853f1c 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ want the C extension, set the environment variable ``RADIX_NO_EXT=1``.
 Tests are in the ``tests/`` directory and can be run with
 ``python setup.py nosetests``.
 
+Windows
+^^^^^^^
+Windows support depends on a third-party library--`win-inet-pton`--to provide `inet_pton` and `inet_ntop` wrappers for the socket library. It is automatically included for installations on the Windows platform.
+
 Usage
 -----
 
diff --git a/radix/radix.py b/radix/radix.py
index 15b1048..142590a 100644
--- a/radix/radix.py
+++ b/radix/radix.py
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+import sys
+if sys.platform.startswith('win'):
+    import win_inet_pton
 from socket import (getaddrinfo, gaierror,
                     inet_pton, inet_ntop, AF_INET, AF_INET6, SOCK_RAW,
                     AI_NUMERICHOST)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0759445..b425b5a 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -56,6 +56,9 @@
     ],
     tests_require=tests_require,
     packages=find_packages(exclude=['tests', 'tests.*']),
+    install_requires=[
+        'win-inet-pton >= 1.0.1;platform_system=="Windows"',
+    ],
     test_suite='nose.collector',
     **extra_kwargs
 )