diff --git a/dr_botzo/ircbot/bot.py b/dr_botzo/ircbot/bot.py
index 35225c8..45b7473 100644
--- a/dr_botzo/ircbot/bot.py
+++ b/dr_botzo/ircbot/bot.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 import bisect
 import collections
 import copy
+import importlib
 import logging
 import re
 from xmlrpc.server import SimpleXMLRPCServer, SimpleXMLRPCRequestHandler
@@ -356,6 +357,10 @@ class IRCBot(irc.client.SimpleIRCClient):
                                                          getattr(self, 'handle_unload'), -20)
         self.connection.reactor.add_global_regex_handler('privmsg', r'^!unload\s+([\S]+)$',
                                                          getattr(self, 'handle_unload'), -20)
+        self.connection.reactor.add_global_regex_handler('pubmsg', r'^!reload\s+([\S]+)$',
+                                                         getattr(self, 'handle_reload'), -20)
+        self.connection.reactor.add_global_regex_handler('privmsg', r'^!reload\s+([\S]+)$',
+                                                         getattr(self, 'handle_reload'), -20)
 
         # load XML-RPC server
         self.xmlrpc = SimpleXMLRPCServer((settings.IRCBOT_XMLRPC_HOST, settings.IRCBOT_XMLRPC_PORT),
@@ -662,6 +667,92 @@ class IRCBot(irc.client.SimpleIRCClient):
         for module_name, module in sys.modules.items():
             log.debug("  %s", module_name)
 
+    def handle_reload(self, connection, event, match):
+        """Handle IRC requests to reload a plugin (module or package).
+
+        This allows code for a plugin (and potentially also its sibling modules in the package)
+        to be reloaded on demand, in the event that changes were made.
+
+        :param connection: connection for this reload request
+        :type connection: LenientServerConnection
+        :param event: associated irc event object
+        :type event: Event
+        :param match: the matched regex (via add_global_regex_handler)
+        :type match: Match
+        """
+
+        has_perm = ircbotlib.has_permission(event.source, 'ircbot.manage_loaded_plugins')
+        log.debug("has permission to reload?: %s", str(has_perm))
+        if has_perm:
+            plugin_path = match.group(1)
+            log.debug("calling _reload_plugin on %s", plugin_path)
+            self._reload_plugin(connection, event, plugin_path)
+
+    def _reload_plugin(self, connection, event, plugin_path, feedback=True):
+        """Execute the built-in reload() on a plugin (module) or it and its siblings (package).
+
+        :param connection: connection for this load request
+        :type connection: LenientServerConnection
+        :param event: associated irc event object
+        :type event: Event
+        :param plugin_path: path (likely a relative one) of the plugin to attempt to reload
+        :type plugin_path: str
+        :param feedback: whether or not to send messages to IRC regarding the reload attempt
+        :type feedback: bool
+        """
+
+        log.debug("trying to unload plugin %s", plugin_path)
+
+        dest = ircbotlib.reply_destination_for_event(event)
+
+        # loop over the sys.modules entries, for debugging
+        log.debug("loaded modules:")
+        for module_name, module in sys.modules.items():
+            log.debug("  %s", module_name)
+
+        # make sure what was provided was a legitimate plugin
+        # (so that we don't go reloading totally arbitrary code)
+        search_path = None
+        for path, plugin in self.plugins:
+            # first check exact path
+            if path == plugin_path:
+                log.debug("requested %s is %s, so we will try to reload %s",
+                          plugin_path, path, plugin_path)
+                search_path = plugin_path
+            if plugin_path[-1] == '.' and path.startswith(plugin_path):
+                log.debug("requested %s is substring of %s, so we will try to reload all %s items",
+                          plugin_path, path, plugin_path)
+                search_path = plugin_path[:-1]
+
+        # we need to know the plugin names to do some extra logic with reload
+        plugin_names = [x[0] for x in self.plugins]
+
+        # do reload(s)
+        if search_path:
+            plugins_to_reload = []
+            for module_name, module in sys.modules.items():
+                if module_name.startswith(search_path):
+                    if module_name in plugin_names:
+                        # we need to take the plugin reload path for this, but not
+                        # before all other code is reloaded, so we save this for the end
+                        # if we did this here, the ircplugin might still reference the old
+                        # version of its dependencies
+                        plugins_to_reload.append(module_name)
+                    else:
+                        log.debug("reloading %s", module_name)
+                        importlib.reload(module)
+
+                    if feedback:
+                        self.privmsg(dest, "'{0:s}' reloaded.".format(module_name))
+
+            # the references to event handlers will be stale (reload() doesn't go that deep)
+            # so we need to tear down and reinitialize plugins
+            for plugin_to_reload in plugins_to_reload:
+                log.debug("unloading plugin %s", plugin_to_reload)
+                self._unload_plugin(event, plugin_to_reload, False)
+                log.debug("loading plugin %s", plugin_to_reload)
+                self._load_plugin(connection, event, plugin_to_reload, False)
+
     def handle_unload(self, connection, event, match):
         """Handle IRC requests to unload a plugin.