diff --git a/zebra-network/src/lib.rs b/zebra-network/src/lib.rs
index 0440bbad..124153c6 100644
--- a/zebra-network/src/lib.rs
+++ b/zebra-network/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,30 @@
 //! Networking code for Zebra. 🦓
+//!
+//! The Zcash network protocol is inherited from Bitcoin, which uses a
+//! stateful network protocol in which messages can arrive in any
+//! order (even before a handshake is complete!), and the same message
+//! may be a request or a response depending on context.
+//!
+//! This crate translates the legacy Bitcoin/Zcash network protocol
+//! into a stateless, request-response oriented protocol defined by
+//! the [`Request`] and [`Response`] enums, and completely
+//! encapsulates all peer handling code behind a single
+//! [`tower::Service`] representing "the network" which load-balances
+//! outbound [`Request`]s over available peers.
+//!
+//! Each peer connection is a distinct task, which interprets incoming
+//! Bitcoin/Zcash messages either as [`Response`]s to pending
+//! [`Request`]s, or as an inbound [`Request`]s to an internal
+//! [`tower::Service`] representing "this node".  All connection state
+//! is isolated to the peer in question, so as a side effect the
+//! design is structurally immune to the recent `ping` attack.
+//!
+//! Because [`tower::Service`]s provide backpressure information, we
+//! can dynamically manage the size of the connection pool according
+//! to inbound and outbound demand.  The inbound service can shed load
+//! when it is not ready for requests, causing those peer connections
+//! to close, and the outbound service can connect to additional peers
+//! when it is overloaded.
 
 #![deny(missing_docs)]