diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 7239d73..75a775a 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 1.4.11: June 29, 2008:
  * Fixed bug in which bolding of suggest-as-you-type search text was case
    sensitive. Now it's case insensitive.
+ * controller.Root.guide() now accepts an optional note_id parameter.
 
 1.4.10: June 29, 2008:
  * New suggest-as-you-type feature for creating a new link, setting a link's
diff --git a/controller/Root.py b/controller/Root.py
index 7490c6a..460b29d 100644
--- a/controller/Root.py
+++ b/controller/Root.py
@@ -229,6 +229,8 @@ class Root( object ):
     @param start: index of recent note to start with (defaults to 0, the most recent note)
     @type count: int or NoneType
     @param count: number of recent notes to display (defaults to 10 notes)
+    @type note_id: unicode or NoneType
+    @param note_id: id of single note to load (optional)
     @rtype: unicode
     @return: rendered HTML page
     @raise Validation_error: one of the arguments is invalid
@@ -250,12 +252,15 @@ class Root( object ):
   @end_transaction
   @grab_user_id
   @validate(
+    note_id = Valid_id( none_okay = True ),
     user_id = Valid_id( none_okay = True ),
   )
-  def guide( self, user_id = None ):
+  def guide( self, note_id = None, user_id = None ):
     """
     Provide the information necessary to display the Luminotes user guide.
 
+    @type note_id: unicode or NoneType
+    @param note_id: id of single note to load (optional)
     @rtype: unicode
     @return: rendered HTML page
     @raise Validation_error: one of the arguments is invalid
@@ -265,6 +270,10 @@ class Root( object ):
 
     result.update( self.__notebooks.contents( guide_notebooks[ 0 ].object_id, user_id = user_id ) )
 
+    # if a single note was requested, just return that one note
+    if note_id:
+      result[ "startup_notes" ] = [ note for note in result[ "startup_notes" ] if note.object_id == note_id ]
+
     return result
 
   @expose( view = Main_page )
diff --git a/controller/test/Test_root.py b/controller/test/Test_root.py
index be7ffb2..7cde88d 100644
--- a/controller/test/Test_root.py
+++ b/controller/test/Test_root.py
@@ -347,6 +347,15 @@ class Test_root( Test_controller ):
     assert u"error" not in result
     assert result[ u"notebook" ].object_id == self.guide_notebook.object_id
 
+  def test_guide_with_note_id( self ):
+    result = self.http_get(
+      "/guide?note_id=%s" % self.guide_note.object_id,
+    )
+
+    assert result
+    assert u"error" not in result
+    assert result[ u"notebook" ].object_id == self.guide_notebook.object_id
+
   def test_privacy( self ):
     result = self.http_get(
       "/privacy",