diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bd5b933..6297729 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -82,6 +82,20 @@ Example Playbook
     - role: AnsibleShipyard.ansible-zookeeper
 ```
 
+Example Retrieving Tarball From S3
+----------------------------------
+
+```yaml
+- name: Installing ZooKeeper
+  hosts: all
+  sudo: yes
+  vars:
+    zookeeper_archive_s3_bucket: my-s3-bucket
+    zookeeper_archive_s3_object: my/s3/directory/zookeeper-{{zookeeper_version}}.tar.gz
+  roles:
+    - role: AnsibleShipyard.ansible-zookeeper
+```
+
 Cluster Example
 ----------------
 
diff --git a/tasks/tarball.yml b/tasks/tarball.yml
index 2607f0b..eaf54ea 100644
--- a/tasks/tarball.yml
+++ b/tasks/tarball.yml
@@ -5,9 +5,31 @@
 - name: "Ensure the zookeeper dir exists at {{zookeeper_dir}}"
   file: path={{zookeeper_dir}} state=directory
 
+# If the file exists already, the S3 call can experience errors
+- name: check whether the tarball is downloaded already
+  stat: path={{zookeeper_tarball_dir}}/zookeeper-{{zookeeper_version}}.tar.gz
+  register: zookeeper_tarball_script
+
+- name: Download zookeeper from S3
+  s3:
+    mode: get
+    bucket: "{{zookeeper_archive_s3_bucket}}"
+    object: "{{zookeeper_archive_s3_object}}"
+    dest: "{{zookeeper_tarball_dir}}/zookeeper-{{zookeeper_version}}.tar.gz"
+  register: zookeeper_s3_tarball_downloaded
+  tags: bootstrap
+  when: >
+    zookeeper_archive_s3_bucket is defined and
+    zookeeper_archive_s3_object is defined and
+    not zookeeper_tarball_script.stat.exists
+
 - name: Download zookeeper version.
   get_url: url={{zookeeper_url}} dest={{zookeeper_tarball_dir}}/zookeeper-{{zookeeper_version}}.tar.gz
   tags: bootstrap
+  register: zookeeper_tarball_downloaded
+  when: >
+    zookeeper_archive_s3_bucket is not defined or
+    zookeeper_archive_s3_object is not defined
 
 - name: Unpack tarball.
   command: tar zxf {{zookeeper_tarball_dir}}/zookeeper-{{zookeeper_version}}.tar.gz --strip-components=1 chdir={{zookeeper_dir}} creates={{zookeeper_dir}}/bin