diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1afad18..7180b65 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -38,6 +38,15 @@ from the file `$HOME/.vault-token`, as documented at
 If any such parameter is set by both an environment variable and an
 alternative means, the environment variable takes precedence.
 
+### Caching
+
+By default secrets fetched from Vault will be cached in memory, unless you specify
+
+    export ANSIBLE_HASHICORP_VAULT_USE_CACHE=no
+
+Note that secrets will be fetched once per fork (defaults to 5). If you turn off
+this feature by toggling above variable, all lookups will be done per node instead.
+
 ### Usage
 ansible-vault works as any other lookup plugin.
 
diff --git a/vault.py b/vault.py
index 51415aa..edd1457 100644
--- a/vault.py
+++ b/vault.py
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ def __init__(self, basedir=None, runner=None, **kwargs):
         def get_basedir(self, variables):
             return self.basedir
 
+_use_vault_cache = os.environ.get("ANSIBLE_HASHICORP_VAULT_USE_CACHE", "yes").lower() in ("yes", "1", "true")
+_vault_cache = {}
 
 class LookupModule(LookupBase):
 
@@ -81,6 +83,17 @@ def run(self, terms, inject=None, variables=None, **kwargs):
 
         cafile = os.getenv('VAULT_CACERT') or (variables or inject).get('vault_cacert')
         capath = os.getenv('VAULT_CAPATH') or (variables or inject).get('vault_capath')
+
+        if _use_vault_cache and _vault_cache.has_key(key):
+            result = _vault_cache[key]
+        else:
+            result = self._fetch_remotely(cafile, capath, data, key, token, url)
+            if _use_vault_cache:
+                _vault_cache[key] = result
+
+        return [result['data'][field]] if field is not None else [result['data']]
+
+    def _fetch_remotely(self, cafile, capath, data, key, token, url):
         try:
             context = None
             if cafile or capath:
@@ -106,7 +119,5 @@ def run(self, terms, inject=None, variables=None, **kwargs):
             raise AnsibleError('Unable to read %s from vault: %s' % (key, e))
         except Exception as e:
             raise AnsibleError('Unable to read %s from vault: %s' % (key, e))
-
         result = json.loads(response.read())
-
-        return [result['data'][field]] if field is not None else [result['data']]
+        return result