diff --git a/RELEASE.md b/RELEASE.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c4272ec5b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/RELEASE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Release type: minor
+
+Allow users to use n-first paragraphs as article summary.
diff --git a/docs/content.rst b/docs/content.rst
index cacacea9aa..dcb9930968 100644
--- a/docs/content.rst
+++ b/docs/content.rst
@@ -162,7 +162,10 @@ author you can use ``author`` field.
 
 If you do not explicitly specify summary metadata for a given post, the
 ``SUMMARY_MAX_LENGTH`` setting can be used to specify how many words from the
-beginning of an article are used as the summary.
+beginning of an article are used as the summary. You can also use the first N
+paragraphs from the post as a summary using the ``SUMMARY_MAX_PARAGRAPHS``
+setting. If both options are in use, the specified number of paragraphs will
+be used but may be truncated to respect the specified max length.
 
 You can also extract any metadata from the filename through a regular
 expression to be set in the ``FILENAME_METADATA`` setting. All named groups
diff --git a/docs/settings.rst b/docs/settings.rst
index e9edffde0e..d0c14d043a 100644
--- a/docs/settings.rst
+++ b/docs/settings.rst
@@ -308,6 +308,14 @@ Basic settings
    does not otherwise specify a summary. Setting to ``None`` will cause the
    summary to be a copy of the original content.
 
+.. data:: SUMMARY_MAX_PARAGRAPHS = 1
+
+   When creating a short summary of an article, this will be the number of
+   paragraphs to use as the summary.  This only applies if your content
+   does not otherwise specify a summary. Setting to ``None`` will cause the
+   summary to use the whole text (up to ``SUMMARY_MAX_LENGTH``) instead of just
+   the first N paragraphs.
+
 .. data:: SUMMARY_END_SUFFIX = '…'
 
    When creating a short summary of an article and the result was truncated to
diff --git a/pelican/contents.py b/pelican/contents.py
index 474e5bbfea..51e89123af 100644
--- a/pelican/contents.py
+++ b/pelican/contents.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
     sanitised_join,
     set_date_tzinfo,
     slugify,
+    truncate_html_paragraphs,
     truncate_html_words,
 )
 
@@ -431,8 +432,17 @@ def get_summary(self, siteurl):
         if "summary" in self.metadata:
             return self.metadata["summary"]
 
+        content = self.content
+        if (
+            "SUMMARY_MAX_PARAGRAPHS" in self.settings
+            and self.settings["SUMMARY_MAX_PARAGRAPHS"] is not None
+        ):
+            content = truncate_html_paragraphs(
+                self.content, self.settings["SUMMARY_MAX_PARAGRAPHS"]
+            )
+
         if self.settings["SUMMARY_MAX_LENGTH"] is None:
-            return self.content
+            return content
 
         return truncate_html_words(
             self.content,
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_contents.py b/pelican/tests/test_contents.py
index 9dc7b70d71..96890fecca 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_contents.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_contents.py
@@ -117,6 +117,31 @@ def test_summary_max_length(self):
         page = Page(**page_kwargs)
         self.assertEqual(page.summary, "")
 
+    def test_summary_paragraph(self):
+        # If a :SUMMARY_MAX_PARAGRAPHS: is set, the generated summary should
+        # not exceed the given paragraph count.
+        page_kwargs = self._copy_page_kwargs()
+        settings = get_settings()
+        page_kwargs["settings"] = settings
+        del page_kwargs["metadata"]["summary"]
+        settings["SUMMARY_MAX_PARAGRAPHS"] = 1
+        settings["SUMMARY_MAX_LENGTH"] = None
+        page = Page(**page_kwargs)
+        self.assertEqual(page.summary, TEST_CONTENT)
+
+    def test_summary_paragraph_max_length(self):
+        # If a :SUMMARY_MAX_PARAGRAPHS: and :SUMMARY_MAX_LENGTH: are set, the
+        # generated summary should not exceed the given paragraph count and
+        # not exceed the given length.
+        page_kwargs = self._copy_page_kwargs()
+        settings = get_settings()
+        page_kwargs["settings"] = settings
+        del page_kwargs["metadata"]["summary"]
+        settings["SUMMARY_MAX_PARAGRAPHS"] = 1
+        settings["SUMMARY_MAX_LENGTH"] = 10
+        page = Page(**page_kwargs)
+        self.assertEqual(page.summary, truncate_html_words(TEST_CONTENT, 10))
+
     def test_summary_end_suffix(self):
         # If a :SUMMARY_END_SUFFIX: is set, and there is no other summary,
         # generated summary should contain the specified marker at the end.
diff --git a/pelican/tests/test_utils.py b/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
index 22dd8e38a5..1ffe44407c 100644
--- a/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/pelican/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -401,6 +401,23 @@ def test_truncate_html_words(self):
         self.assertEqual(utils.truncate_html_words("&#1234 text", 20), "&#1234 text")
         self.assertEqual(utils.truncate_html_words("&#xabc text", 20), "&#xabc text")
 
+    def test_truncate_html_paragraphs(self):
+        one = "<p>one</p>"
+
+        self.assertEqual(utils.truncate_html_paragraphs(one, 0), "")
+        self.assertEqual(utils.truncate_html_paragraphs(one, 1), one)
+        self.assertEqual(utils.truncate_html_paragraphs(one, 2), one)
+
+        two = one + "<p>two</p>"
+        self.assertEqual(utils.truncate_html_paragraphs(two, 1), one)
+        self.assertEqual(utils.truncate_html_paragraphs(two, 2), two)
+
+        three = two + "<p>three</p>"
+        self.assertEqual(utils.truncate_html_paragraphs(three, 1), one)
+        self.assertEqual(utils.truncate_html_paragraphs(three, 2), two)
+        self.assertEqual(utils.truncate_html_paragraphs(three, 3), three)
+        self.assertEqual(utils.truncate_html_paragraphs(three, 4), three)
+
     def test_process_translations(self):
         fr_articles = []
         en_articles = []
diff --git a/pelican/utils.py b/pelican/utils.py
index eda53d3f54..dfe05d216a 100644
--- a/pelican/utils.py
+++ b/pelican/utils.py
@@ -600,6 +600,25 @@ def truncate_html_words(s, num, end_text="…"):
     return out
 
 
+def truncate_html_paragraphs(s, count):
+    """Truncates HTML to a certain number of paragraphs.
+
+    :param count: number of paragraphs to keep
+
+    Newlines in the HTML are preserved.
+    """
+    paragraphs = []
+    tag_stop = 0
+    substr = s[:]
+    for i in range(count):
+        substr = substr[tag_stop:]
+        tag_start = substr.find("<p>")
+        tag_stop = substr.find("</p>") + len("</p>")
+        paragraphs.append(substr[tag_start:tag_stop])
+
+    return "".join(paragraphs)
+
+
 def process_translations(content_list, translation_id=None):
     """Finds translations and returns them.