diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index aeb44df..57c380b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -256,6 +256,7 @@ Google provides several well-known message types like a timestamp, duration, and
 | `google.protobuf.duration`  | [`datetime.timedelta`][td]               | `0`                    |
 | `google.protobuf.timestamp` | Timezone-aware [`datetime.datetime`][dt] | `1970-01-01T00:00:00Z` |
 | `google.protobuf.*Value`    | `Optional[...]`                          | `None`                 |
+| `google.protobuf.*`         | `betterproto.lib.google.protobuf.*`      | `None`                 |
 
 [td]: https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#timedelta-objects
 [dt]: https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html#datetime.datetime
@@ -354,6 +355,21 @@ $ pipenv run generate
 $ pipenv run test
 ```
 
+### (Re)compiling Google Well-known Types
+
+Betterproto includes compiled versions for Google's well-known types at [betterproto/lib/google](betterproto/lib/google).
+Be sure to regenerate these files when modifying the plugin output format, and validate by running the tests.
+
+Normally, the plugin does not compile any references to `google.protobuf`, since they are pre-compiled. To force compilation of `google.protobuf`, set this environment variable: `PROTOBUF_OPTS=INCLUDE_GOOGLE`. 
+
+Assuming your `google.protobuf` source files (included with all releases of `protoc`) are located in `/usr/local/include`, you can regenerate them as follows:
+
+```sh
+export PROTOBUF_OPTS=INCLUDE_GOOGLE
+protoc --plugin=protoc-gen-custom=betterproto/plugin.py --custom_out=betterproto/lib -I/usr/local/include/ /usr/local/include/google/protobuf/*.proto
+```
+
+
 ### TODO
 
 - [x] Fixed length fields
diff --git a/betterproto/plugin.py b/betterproto/plugin.py
index c843a6a..3d9c1bb 100755
--- a/betterproto/plugin.py
+++ b/betterproto/plugin.py
@@ -182,6 +182,9 @@ def get_comment(proto_file, path: List[int], indent: int = 4) -> str:
 
 
 def generate_code(request, response):
+    plugin_options = os.environ.get("BETTERPROTO_OPTS")
+    plugin_options = plugin_options.split(" ") if plugin_options else []
+
     env = jinja2.Environment(
         trim_blocks=True,
         lstrip_blocks=True,
@@ -192,7 +195,8 @@ def generate_code(request, response):
     output_map = {}
     for proto_file in request.proto_file:
         out = proto_file.package
-        if out == "google.protobuf":
+
+        if out == "google.protobuf" and "INCLUDE_GOOGLE" not in plugin_options:
             continue
 
         if not out: