diff --git a/lib/contrib/markov/chain.ex b/lib/contrib/markov/chain.ex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4c95a1d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/contrib/markov/chain.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+defmodule Omnibot.Contrib.Markov.Chain do
+  alias Omnibot.{Contrib.Markov.Chain, Util}
+
+  @enforce_keys [:order]
+  defstruct order: 2, chain: []
+
+  def train(%Chain {chain: chain, order: order}, words) when is_list(words) do
+
+    Enum.filter(words, &(String.length(&1) > 0))
+    |> Enum.chunk_every(order + 1, 1) # this gives us a "sliding window" effect
+    |> Enum.reduce(chain, &case Enum.split(words, order) do
+      {words, []} -> if length(&1) == order,
+          # Null case for the chain; this is an "end" state
+          do: train_one(%Chain {chain: &2, order: order}, words, nil)
+          # else: TODO ? train [a, nil] -> b ?
+      {words, [next]} ->
+        train_one(%Chain {chain: &2, order: order}, words, next)
+    end
+    )
+  end
+
+  def train_one(%Chain {chain: _chain, order: _order}, _key, _value) do
+  end
+
+  def lookup(%Chain {chain: chain, order: order}, key) do
+    if length(key) != order, do: raise(ArgumentError, message: "invalid key (length #{length(key)} vs. order #{order})")
+    case Util.binary_search(chain, key) do
+      {_index, value} -> value
+      nil -> nil
+    end
+  end
+
+  def put(%Chain {chain: _chain, order: _order}, _key, _value) do
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/contrib/markov/markov.ex b/lib/contrib/markov/markov.ex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f75ebfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/contrib/markov/markov.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+defmodule Omnibot.Contrib.Markov do
+  use Omnibot.Plugin
+
+  alias Omnibot.Contrib.Markov.Chain
+
+  @default_config path: :"wordbot.ets", order: 2
+
+  @impl true
+  def on_init(cfg) do
+    # Create the markov database
+    path = if is_atom(cfg[:path]),
+      do: cfg[:path],
+      else: String.to_atom(cfg[:path])
+    {:ok, db} = :dets.open_file(path)
+    db
+  end
+
+  @impl true
+  def on_channel_msg(_irc, _channel, _nick, msg) do
+    _words = String.split(msg, ~r/\s+/)
+  end
+end
diff --git a/lib/util.ex b/lib/util.ex
index af710e6..d1877e9 100644
--- a/lib/util.ex
+++ b/lib/util.ex
@@ -14,4 +14,26 @@ defmodule Omnibot.Util do
   def denotify_nick(nick) do
     String.graphemes(nick) |> Enum.join("\u200b")
   end
+
+  def binary_search([], _key) do
+    nil
+  end
+
+  def binary_search([{key, value} | _], key) do
+    {0, value}
+  end
+
+  @doc "Attempts to find to find the given key in a sorted associative array."
+  def binary_search(list, key) do
+    {head, tail} = Enum.split(list, trunc(length(list) / 2))
+    [{mid, _} | _] = tail
+    if key < mid do
+      binary_search(head, key)
+    else
+      case binary_search(tail, key) do
+        nil -> nil
+        {index, item} -> {index + length(head), item}
+      end
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/test/contrib/markov/chain_test.exs b/test/contrib/markov/chain_test.exs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e0de4a9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/contrib/markov/chain_test.exs
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+defmodule MarkovChainTest do
+  use ExUnit.Case
+  alias Omnibot.Contrib.Markov.Chain
+
+  test "chain train_one works correctly" do
+    chain = %Chain {order: 2}
+            |> Chain.train_one(["foo", "bar"], "baz")
+    #assert chain.chain == [
+      #{["foo", "bar"], {"baz", 1}}
+      #]
+  end
+end
diff --git a/test/util_test.exs b/test/util_test.exs
index d7921e5..9987a07 100644
--- a/test/util_test.exs
+++ b/test/util_test.exs
@@ -12,4 +12,21 @@ defmodule Omnibot.UtilTest do
     assert Util.string_or_nil("") == nil
     assert Util.string_or_nil("asdf") == "asdf"
   end
+
+  test "binary_search" do
+    indexes = 0..10 |> Enum.to_list()
+    values = indexes |> Enum.map(&({&1, &1 * 2}))
+    assert Enum.map(indexes, &(Util.binary_search(values, &1))) == values
+
+    indexes = 0..101 |> Enum.to_list()
+    values = indexes |> Enum.map(&({&1, &1 * 2}))
+    assert Enum.map(indexes, &(Util.binary_search(values, &1))) == values
+
+    values = [a: 15, b: 22, c: -1, d: 0]
+
+    assert Util.binary_search(values, :a) == {0, 15}
+    assert Util.binary_search(values, :b) == {1, 22}
+    assert Util.binary_search(values, :c) == {2, -1}
+    assert Util.binary_search(values, :d) == {3, 0}
+  end
 end