diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 0e47cb7a..c5fe62ea 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -7,12 +7,21 @@ python:
     - "3.2"
     - "3.3"
 env:
-  - PYMONGO=dev
-  - PYMONGO=2.5
-  - PYMONGO=2.4.2
+  - PYMONGO=dev DJANGO=1.5.1
+  - PYMONGO=dev DJANGO=1.4.2
+  - PYMONGO=2.5 DJANGO=1.5.1
+  - PYMONGO=2.5 DJANGO=1.4.2
+  - PYMONGO=2.4.2 DJANGO=1.4.2
+matrix:
+  exclude:
+    - python: "2.6"
+      env: PYMONGO=dev DJANGO=1.5.1
+    - python: "2.6"
+      env: PYMONGO=2.5 DJANGO=1.5.1
 install:
     - if [[ $TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION == '2.'* ]]; then cp /usr/lib/*/libz.so $VIRTUAL_ENV/lib/; fi
     - if [[ $TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION == '2.'* ]]; then pip install pil --use-mirrors ; true; fi
+    - if [[ $TRAVIS_PYTHON_VERSION == '2.'* ]]; then pip install django==$DJANGO --use-mirrors ; true; fi
     - if [[ $PYMONGO == 'dev' ]]; then pip install https://github.com/mongodb/mongo-python-driver/tarball/master; true; fi
     - if [[ $PYMONGO != 'dev' ]]; then pip install pymongo==$PYMONGO --use-mirrors; true; fi
     - python setup.py install
diff --git a/docs/django.rst b/docs/django.rst
index 5c9e7bfb..e3a1c6b1 100644
--- a/docs/django.rst
+++ b/docs/django.rst
@@ -42,6 +42,42 @@ The :mod:`~mongoengine.django.auth` module also contains a
 
 .. versionadded:: 0.1.3
 
+Custom User model
+=================
+Django 1.5 introduced `Custom user Models
+<https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/auth/customizing/#auth-custom-user>`
+which can be used as an alternative the Mongoengine authentication backend.
+
+The main advantage of this option is that other components relying on
+:mod:`django.contrib.auth` and supporting the new swappable user model are more
+likely to work. For example, you can use the ``createsuperuser`` management
+command as usual.
+
+To enable the custom User model in Django, add ``'mongoengine.django.mongo_auth'``
+in your ``INSTALLED_APPS`` and set ``'mongo_auth.MongoUser'`` as the custom user
+user model to use. In your **settings.py** file you will have::
+
+    INSTALLED_APPS = (
+        ...
+        'django.contrib.auth',
+        'mongoengine.django.mongo_auth',
+        ...
+    )
+
+    AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'mongo_auth.MongoUser'
+
+An additional ``MONGOENGINE_USER_DOCUMENT`` setting enables you to replace the
+:class:`~mongoengine.django.auth.User` class with another class of your choice::
+
+    MONGOENGINE_USER_DOCUMENT = 'mongoengine.django.auth.User'
+
+The custom :class:`User` must be a :class:`~mongoengine.Document` class, but
+otherwise has the same requirements as a standard custom user model,
+as specified in the `Django Documentation
+<https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/auth/customizing/>`.
+In particular, the custom class must define :attr:`USERNAME_FIELD` and
+:attr:`REQUIRED_FIELDS` attributes.
+
 Sessions
 ========
 Django allows the use of different backend stores for its sessions. MongoEngine
diff --git a/mongoengine/django/auth.py b/mongoengine/django/auth.py
index 65822441..8fcbca97 100644
--- a/mongoengine/django/auth.py
+++ b/mongoengine/django/auth.py
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ class Permission(Document):
     created for each Django model.
     """
     name = StringField(max_length=50, verbose_name=_('username'))
-    content_type = ReferenceField(ContentType)
+    content_type = ReferenceField(ContentType, dbref=True)
     codename = StringField(max_length=100, verbose_name=_('codename'))
         # FIXME: don't access field of the other class
         # unique_with=['content_type__app_label', 'content_type__model'])
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ class Group(Document):
     """
     name = StringField(max_length=80, unique=True, verbose_name=_('name'))
     # permissions = models.ManyToManyField(Permission, verbose_name=_('permissions'), blank=True)
-    permissions = ListField(ReferenceField(Permission, verbose_name=_('permissions'), required=False))
+    permissions = ListField(ReferenceField(Permission, verbose_name=_('permissions'), required=False, dbref=True))
 
     class Meta:
         verbose_name = _('group')
@@ -231,6 +231,9 @@ class User(Document):
     date_joined = DateTimeField(default=datetime_now,
                                 verbose_name=_('date joined'))
 
+    USERNAME_FIELD = 'username'
+    REQUIRED_FIELDS = ['email']
+
     meta = {
         'allow_inheritance': True,
         'indexes': [
diff --git a/mongoengine/django/mongo_auth/__init__.py b/mongoengine/django/mongo_auth/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/mongoengine/django/mongo_auth/models.py b/mongoengine/django/mongo_auth/models.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9629e644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mongoengine/django/mongo_auth/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+from importlib import import_module
+
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.contrib.auth.models import UserManager
+from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
+from django.db import models
+from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
+
+
+MONGOENGINE_USER_DOCUMENT = getattr(
+    settings, 'MONGOENGINE_USER_DOCUMENT', 'mongoengine.django.auth.User')
+
+
+class MongoUserManager(UserManager):
+    """A User manager wich allows the use of MongoEngine documents in Django.
+
+    To use the manager, you must tell django.contrib.auth to use MongoUser as
+    the user model. In you settings.py, you need:
+
+        INSTALLED_APPS = (
+            ...
+            'django.contrib.auth',
+            'mongoengine.django.mongo_auth',
+            ...
+        )
+        AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'mongo_auth.MongoUser'
+
+    Django will use the model object to access the custom Manager, which will
+    replace the original queryset with MongoEngine querysets.
+
+    By default, mongoengine.django.auth.User will be used to store users. You
+    can specify another document class in MONGOENGINE_USER_DOCUMENT in your
+    settings.py.
+
+    The User Document class has the same requirements as a standard custom user
+    model: https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/dev/topics/auth/customizing/
+
+    In particular, the User Document class must define USERNAME_FIELD and
+    REQUIRED_FIELDS.
+
+    `AUTH_USER_MODEL` has been added in Django 1.5.
+
+    """
+
+    def contribute_to_class(self, model, name):
+        super(MongoUserManager, self).contribute_to_class(model, name)
+        self.dj_model = self.model
+        self.model = self._get_user_document()
+
+        self.dj_model.USERNAME_FIELD = self.model.USERNAME_FIELD
+        username = models.CharField(_('username'), max_length=30, unique=True)
+        username.contribute_to_class(self.dj_model, self.dj_model.USERNAME_FIELD)
+
+        self.dj_model.REQUIRED_FIELDS = self.model.REQUIRED_FIELDS
+        for name in self.dj_model.REQUIRED_FIELDS:
+            field = models.CharField(_(name), max_length=30)
+            field.contribute_to_class(self.dj_model, name)
+
+    def _get_user_document(self):
+        try:
+            name = MONGOENGINE_USER_DOCUMENT
+            dot = name.rindex('.')
+            module = import_module(name[:dot])
+            return getattr(module, name[dot + 1:])
+        except ImportError:
+            raise ImproperlyConfigured("Error importing %s, please check "
+                                       "settings.MONGOENGINE_USER_DOCUMENT"
+                                       % name)
+
+    def get(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        try:
+            return self.get_query_set().get(*args, **kwargs)
+        except self.model.DoesNotExist:
+            # ModelBackend expects this exception
+            raise self.dj_model.DoesNotExist
+
+    @property
+    def db(self):
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def get_empty_query_set(self):
+        return self.model.objects.none()
+
+    def get_query_set(self):
+        return self.model.objects
+
+
+class MongoUser(models.Model):
+    objects = MongoUserManager()
+
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 13c11a90..bdd01825 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ if sys.version_info[0] == 3:
         extra_opts['packages'].append("tests")
         extra_opts['package_data'] = {"tests": ["fields/mongoengine.png", "fields/mongodb_leaf.png"]}
 else:
-    extra_opts['tests_require'] = ['nose', 'coverage', 'blinker', 'django==1.4.2', 'PIL']
+    extra_opts['tests_require'] = ['nose', 'coverage', 'blinker', 'django>=1.4.2', 'PIL']
     extra_opts['packages'] = find_packages(exclude=('tests',))
 
 setup(name='mongoengine',
diff --git a/tests/test_django.py b/tests/test_django.py
index dceeba27..01a105a3 100644
--- a/tests/test_django.py
+++ b/tests/test_django.py
@@ -14,8 +14,19 @@ try:
     from django.conf import settings
     from django.core.paginator import Paginator
 
-    settings.configure(USE_TZ=True)
+    settings.configure(
+        USE_TZ=True,
+        INSTALLED_APPS=('django.contrib.auth', 'mongoengine.django.mongo_auth'),
+        AUTH_USER_MODEL=('mongo_auth.MongoUser'),
+    )
 
+    try:
+        from django.contrib.auth import authenticate, get_user_model
+        from mongoengine.django.auth import User
+        from mongoengine.django.mongo_auth.models import MongoUser, MongoUserManager
+        DJ15 = True
+    except Exception:
+        DJ15 = False
     from django.contrib.sessions.tests import SessionTestsMixin
     from mongoengine.django.sessions import SessionStore, MongoSession
 except Exception, err:
@@ -156,6 +167,7 @@ class QuerySetTest(unittest.TestCase):
         rendered = template.render(Context({'users': users}))
         self.assertEqual(rendered, 'AB ABCD CD')
 
+
 class MongoDBSessionTest(SessionTestsMixin, unittest.TestCase):
     backend = SessionStore
 
@@ -184,5 +196,49 @@ class MongoDBSessionTest(SessionTestsMixin, unittest.TestCase):
         session = SessionStore(key)
         self.assertTrue('test_expire' in session, 'Session has expired before it is expected')
 
+
+class MongoAuthTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    user_data = {
+        'username': 'user',
+        'email': 'user@example.com',
+        'password': 'test',
+    }
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        if PY3:
+            raise SkipTest('django does not have Python 3 support')
+        if not DJ15:
+            raise SkipTest('mongo_auth requires Django 1.5')
+        connect(db='mongoenginetest')
+        User.drop_collection()
+        super(MongoAuthTest, self).setUp()
+
+    def test_user_model(self):
+        self.assertEqual(get_user_model(), MongoUser)
+
+    def test_user_manager(self):
+        manager = get_user_model()._default_manager
+        self.assertIsInstance(manager, MongoUserManager)
+
+    def test_user_manager_exception(self):
+        manager = get_user_model()._default_manager
+        self.assertRaises(MongoUser.DoesNotExist, manager.get,
+                          username='not found')
+
+    def test_create_user(self):
+        manager = get_user_model()._default_manager
+        user = manager.create_user(**self.user_data)
+        self.assertIsInstance(user, User)
+        db_user = User.objects.get(username='user')
+        self.assertEqual(user.id, db_user.id)
+
+    def test_authenticate(self):
+        get_user_model()._default_manager.create_user(**self.user_data)
+        user = authenticate(username='user', password='fail')
+        self.assertIsNone(user)
+        user = authenticate(username='user', password='test')
+        db_user = User.objects.get(username='user')
+        self.assertEqual(user.id, db_user.id)
+
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     unittest.main()