diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index f449bbb..337cfb1 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -3,3 +3,5 @@ djangorestframework==3.3.2
 coverage==4.0.3
 flake8==2.5.1
 mkdocs==0.15.3
+django-markwhat==1.5
+docutils==0.12
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rest_framework_docs/templates/rest_framework_docs/home.html b/rest_framework_docs/templates/rest_framework_docs/home.html
index e13e5a5..28f512d 100644
--- a/rest_framework_docs/templates/rest_framework_docs/home.html
+++ b/rest_framework_docs/templates/rest_framework_docs/home.html
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 {% extends "rest_framework_docs/docs.html" %}
 {% load drfdocs_filters %}
 
+{% load markdown %}
+
 {% block apps_menu %}
 {% regroup endpoints by name_parent as endpoints_grouped %}
 <li class="dropdown">
@@ -57,6 +59,7 @@ <h4 class="panel-title title">
         <div id="{{ endpoint.path|slugify }}" class="panel-collapse collapse" role="tabpanel">
           <div class="panel-body">
             {% if endpoint.docstring %}
+            <p class="lead">{{ endpoint.docstring|markdown:'safe' }}</p>
             <p class="lead">{{ endpoint.docstring|markdown }}</p>
             {% endif %}
 
diff --git a/rest_framework_docs/templatetags/markdown.py b/rest_framework_docs/templatetags/markdown.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3efd94d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rest_framework_docs/templatetags/markdown.py
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+"""
+Defining a custom template tag as a wrapper around the markup template tag provided by the
+django-markwhat library. This prevents the need for users to have to install django-markwhat into their
+INSTALLED_APPS.
+"""
+from django import template
+from django_markwhat.templatetags.markup import markdown as markdown_filter
+
+register = template.Library()
+
+
+@register.filter(is_safe=True)
+def markdown(value, args=''):
+    return markdown_filter(value, args)