diff --git a/rest_framework/request.py b/rest_framework/request.py
index 0d88ebc7e..45d1a43e8 100644
--- a/rest_framework/request.py
+++ b/rest_framework/request.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ from django.conf import settings
 from django.http import QueryDict
 from django.http.multipartparser import parse_header
 from django.utils.datastructures import MultiValueDict
+from rest_framework.utils.datastructures import DotExpandedDict
 from rest_framework import HTTP_HEADER_ENCODING
 from rest_framework import exceptions
 from rest_framework.compat import BytesIO
@@ -152,6 +153,10 @@ class Request(object):
         """
         if not _hasattr(self, '_data'):
             self._load_data_and_files()
+
+        if api_settings.NESTED_FIELDS:
+            self._data = DotExpandedDict(self._data)
+        
         return self._data
 
     @property
diff --git a/rest_framework/settings.py b/rest_framework/settings.py
index beb511aca..4b75397b5 100644
--- a/rest_framework/settings.py
+++ b/rest_framework/settings.py
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ DEFAULTS = {
         'anon': None,
     },
 
+    # Nested (multi-dimensional) field names
+    'NESTED_FIELDS': False,
+    'NESTED_FIELD_TOKENIZER': '.',
+
     # Pagination
     'PAGINATE_BY': None,
     'PAGINATE_BY_PARAM': None,
diff --git a/rest_framework/utils/datastructures.py b/rest_framework/utils/datastructures.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..b7bb3466b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rest_framework/utils/datastructures.py
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+"""
+Utility functions for reshaping datastructures
+"""
+from rest_framework.settings import api_settings
+from django.http import QueryDict
+
+class DotExpandedDict(QueryDict):
+    """
+    A special dictionary constructor that takes a dictionary in which the keys
+    may contain dots to specify inner dictionaries. It's confusing, but this
+    example should make sense.
+
+    >>> d = DotExpandedDict({'person.1.firstname': ['Simon'], \
+            'person.1.lastname': ['Willison'], \
+            'person.2.firstname': ['Adrian'], \
+            'person.2.lastname': ['Holovaty']})
+    >>> d
+    {'person': {'1': {'lastname': ['Willison'], 'firstname': ['Simon']}, '2': {'lastname': ['Holovaty'], 'firstname': ['Adrian']}}}
+    >>> d['person']
+    {'1': {'lastname': ['Willison'], 'firstname': ['Simon']}, '2': {'lastname': ['Holovaty'], 'firstname': ['Adrian']}}
+    >>> d['person']['1']
+    {'lastname': ['Willison'], 'firstname': ['Simon']}
+
+    # Gotcha: Results are unpredictable if the dots are "uneven":
+    >>> DotExpandedDict({'c.1': 2, 'c.2': 3, 'c': 1})
+    {'c': 1}
+    """
+    def __init__(self, key_to_list_mapping):
+        for k, v in key_to_list_mapping.items():
+            current = self
+            bits = k.split(api_settings.NESTED_FIELD_TOKENIZER)
+            for bit in bits[:-1]:
+                current = current.setdefault(bit, {})
+            # Now assign value to current position
+            try:
+                current[bits[-1]] = v
+            except TypeError: # Special-case if current isn't a dict.
+                current = {bits[-1]: v}
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