diff --git a/doc/whats-new.rst b/doc/whats-new.rst
index 4149432b117..7f4dd464118 100644
--- a/doc/whats-new.rst
+++ b/doc/whats-new.rst
@@ -33,6 +33,9 @@ Enhancements
 - Experimental support for parsing ENVI metadata to coordinates and attributes
   in :py:func:`xarray.open_rasterio`.
   By `Matti Eskelinen <https://github.com/maaleske>`_.
+- :py:func:`~plot.line()` learned to draw multiple lines if provided with a
+  2D variable.
+  By `Deepak Cherian <https://github.com/dcherian>`_.
 
 .. _Zarr: http://zarr.readthedocs.io/
 
diff --git a/xarray/plot/plot.py b/xarray/plot/plot.py
index 94556d70f6c..2952bd14c51 100644
--- a/xarray/plot/plot.py
+++ b/xarray/plot/plot.py
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ def plot(darray, row=None, col=None, col_wrap=None, ax=None, rtol=0.01,
 # matplotlib format strings
 def line(darray, *args, **kwargs):
     """
-    Line plot of 1 dimensional DataArray index against values
+    Line plot of DataArray index against values
 
     Wraps :func:`matplotlib:matplotlib.pyplot.plot`
 
@@ -176,6 +176,12 @@ def line(darray, *args, **kwargs):
     ax : matplotlib axes object, optional
         Axis on which to plot this figure. By default, use the current axis.
         Mutually exclusive with ``size`` and ``figsize``.
+    hue : string, optional
+        Coordinate for which you want multiple lines plotted (2D inputs only).
+    x : string, optional
+        Coordinate for x axis.
+    add_legend : boolean, optional
+        Add legend with y axis coordinates (2D inputs only).
     *args, **kwargs : optional
         Additional arguments to matplotlib.pyplot.plot
 
@@ -183,8 +189,8 @@ def line(darray, *args, **kwargs):
     plt = import_matplotlib_pyplot()
 
     ndims = len(darray.dims)
-    if ndims != 1:
-        raise ValueError('Line plots are for 1 dimensional DataArrays. '
+    if ndims > 2:
+        raise ValueError('Line plots are for 1- or 2-dimensional DataArrays. '
                          'Passed DataArray has {ndims} '
                          'dimensions'.format(ndims=ndims))
 
@@ -193,11 +199,27 @@ def line(darray, *args, **kwargs):
     aspect = kwargs.pop('aspect', None)
     size = kwargs.pop('size', None)
     ax = kwargs.pop('ax', None)
+    hue = kwargs.pop('hue', None)
+    x = kwargs.pop('x', None)
+    add_legend = kwargs.pop('add_legend', True)
 
     ax = get_axis(figsize, size, aspect, ax)
 
-    xlabel, = darray.dims
-    x = darray.coords[xlabel]
+    if ndims == 1:
+        xlabel, = darray.dims
+        if x is not None and xlabel != x:
+            raise ValueError('Input does not have specified dimension'
+                             + ' {!r}'.format(x))
+
+        x = darray.coords[xlabel]
+
+    else:
+        if x is None and hue is None:
+            raise ValueError('For 2D inputs, please specify either hue or x.')
+
+        xlabel, huelabel = _infer_xy_labels(darray=darray, x=x, y=hue)
+        x = darray.coords[xlabel]
+        darray = darray.transpose(xlabel, huelabel)
 
     _ensure_plottable(x)
 
@@ -209,6 +231,11 @@ def line(darray, *args, **kwargs):
     if darray.name is not None:
         ax.set_ylabel(darray.name)
 
+    if darray.ndim == 2 and add_legend:
+        ax.legend(handles=primitive,
+                  labels=list(darray.coords[huelabel].values),
+                  title=huelabel)
+
     # Rotate dates on xlabels
     if np.issubdtype(x.dtype, np.datetime64):
         plt.gcf().autofmt_xdate()
diff --git a/xarray/tests/test_plot.py b/xarray/tests/test_plot.py
index 1d62f7856f9..dd589eb3765 100644
--- a/xarray/tests/test_plot.py
+++ b/xarray/tests/test_plot.py
@@ -94,6 +94,41 @@ def setUp(self):
     def test1d(self):
         self.darray[:, 0, 0].plot()
 
+        with raises_regex(ValueError, 'dimension'):
+            self.darray[:, 0, 0].plot(x='dim_1')
+
+    def test_2d_line(self):
+        with raises_regex(ValueError, 'hue'):
+            self.darray[:, :, 0].plot.line()
+
+        self.darray[:, :, 0].plot.line(hue='dim_1')
+
+    def test_2d_line_accepts_legend_kw(self):
+        self.darray[:, :, 0].plot.line(x='dim_0', add_legend=False)
+        self.assertFalse(plt.gca().get_legend())
+        plt.cla()
+        self.darray[:, :, 0].plot.line(x='dim_0', add_legend=True)
+        self.assertTrue(plt.gca().get_legend())
+        # check whether legend title is set
+        self.assertTrue(plt.gca().get_legend().get_title().get_text()
+                        == 'dim_1')
+
+    def test_2d_line_accepts_x_kw(self):
+        self.darray[:, :, 0].plot.line(x='dim_0')
+        self.assertTrue(plt.gca().get_xlabel() == 'dim_0')
+        plt.cla()
+        self.darray[:, :, 0].plot.line(x='dim_1')
+        self.assertTrue(plt.gca().get_xlabel() == 'dim_1')
+
+    def test_2d_line_accepts_hue_kw(self):
+        self.darray[:, :, 0].plot.line(hue='dim_0')
+        self.assertTrue(plt.gca().get_legend().get_title().get_text()
+                        == 'dim_0')
+        plt.cla()
+        self.darray[:, :, 0].plot.line(hue='dim_1')
+        self.assertTrue(plt.gca().get_legend().get_title().get_text()
+                        == 'dim_1')
+
     def test_2d_before_squeeze(self):
         a = DataArray(easy_array((1, 5)))
         a.plot()
@@ -243,11 +278,6 @@ def test_ylabel_is_data_name(self):
         self.darray.plot()
         self.assertEqual(self.darray.name, plt.gca().get_ylabel())
 
-    def test_wrong_dims_raises_valueerror(self):
-        twodims = DataArray(easy_array((2, 5)))
-        with pytest.raises(ValueError):
-            twodims.plot.line()
-
     def test_format_string(self):
         self.darray.plot.line('ro')