diff --git a/PLUGINS.md b/PLUGINS.md
index 46f55230..5e10a76b 100644
--- a/PLUGINS.md
+++ b/PLUGINS.md
@@ -160,6 +160,12 @@ You can display an error in EDMC's status area by returning a string from your `
 
 The status area is shared between EDMC itself and all other plugins, so your message won't be displayed for very long. Create a dedicated widget if you need to display routine status information.
 
+# Python Package Plugins
+
+A _Package Plugin_ is both a standard Python package (i.e. contains an `__init__.py` file) and an EDMC plugin (i.e. contains a `load.py` file providing at minimum a `plugin_start()` function). These plugins are loaded before any non-Package plugins.
+
+Other plugins can access features in a Package Plugin by `import`ing the package by name in the usual way.
+
 # Distributing a Plugin
 
 To package your plugin for distribution simply create a `.zip` archive of your plugin's folder:
diff --git a/plug.py b/plug.py
index c50940d9..91784026 100644
--- a/plug.py
+++ b/plug.py
@@ -162,8 +162,13 @@ def load_plugins(master):
                 print_exc()
     PLUGINS.extend(sorted(internal, key = lambda p: operator.attrgetter('name')(p).lower()))
 
+    # Add plugin folder to load path so packages can be loaded from plugin folder
+    sys.path.append(config.plugin_dir)
+
     found = []
-    for name in os.listdir(config.plugin_dir):
+    # Load any plugins that are also packages first
+    for name in sorted(os.listdir(config.plugin_dir),
+                       key = lambda n: (not os.path.isfile(os.path.join(config.plugin_dir, n, '__init__.py')), n.lower())):
         if name[0] in ['.', '_']:
             pass
         elif name.endswith('.disabled'):
@@ -171,7 +176,7 @@ def load_plugins(master):
             found.append(Plugin(name, None))
         else:
             try:
-                # Add plugin's folder to Python's load path in case plugin has dependencies.
+                # Add plugin's folder to load path in case plugin has internal package dependencies
                 sys.path.append(os.path.join(config.plugin_dir, name))
                 found.append(Plugin(name, os.path.join(config.plugin_dir, name, 'load.py')))
             except: