diff --git a/doc/man/_description.txt b/doc/man/_description.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a08ac5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/man/_description.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+**zathura** displays the given files. If a single hyphen-minus (-) is given as
+file name, the content will be read from the standard input. If no files are
+given, an empty **zathura** instance launches.
diff --git a/doc/man/zathura.1.rst b/doc/man/zathura.1.rst
index 9fadd02..6e2c8cf 100644
--- a/doc/man/zathura.1.rst
+++ b/doc/man/zathura.1.rst
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ Synopsis
 
 .. include:: _synopsis.txt
 
+Description
+-----------
+
+.. include:: _description.txt
+
 Options
 -------