diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f802597..632f678 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ Cain is a backup and restore tool for Cassandra on Kubernetes. It is named after
 Cain supports the following cloud storage services:
 
 * AWS S3
+* Minio S3
 * Azure Blob Storage
 
 Cain is now an official part of the Helm [incubator/cassandra](https://github.com/helm/charts/tree/master/incubator/cassandra) chart!
@@ -109,6 +110,7 @@ Flags:
   -k, --keyspace string     keyspace to act on
   -n, --namespace string    namespace to find cassandra cluster
   -p, --parallel int        number of files to copy in parallel. set this flag to 0 for full parallelism (default 1)
+  -s, --schema string       schema version to restore (optional)
   -l, --selector string     selector to filter on
       --src string          source to restore from. Example: s3://bucket/cassandra/namespace/cluster-name
   -t, --tag string          tag to restore
diff --git a/cmd/cain.go b/cmd/cain.go
index 94865fa..b8026ef 100644
--- a/cmd/cain.go
+++ b/cmd/cain.go
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ func NewRestoreCmd(out io.Writer) *cobra.Command {
 	f.StringVar(&r.src, "src", "", "source to restore from. Example: s3://bucket/cassandra/namespace/cluster-name")
 	f.StringVarP(&r.keyspace, "keyspace", "k", "", "keyspace to act on")
 	f.StringVarP(&r.tag, "tag", "t", "", "tag to restore")
-	f.StringVarP(&r.schema, "schema", "s", "", "schema to restore")
+	f.StringVarP(&r.schema, "schema", "s", "", "schema version to restore (optional)")
 	f.StringVarP(&r.namespace, "namespace", "n", "", "namespace to find cassandra cluster")
 	f.StringVarP(&r.selector, "selector", "l", "", "selector to filter on")
 	f.StringVarP(&r.container, "container", "c", "cassandra", "container name to act on")
diff --git a/pkg/cain/cain.go b/pkg/cain/cain.go
index f6015ea..238e143 100644
--- a/pkg/cain/cain.go
+++ b/pkg/cain/cain.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package cain
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"path/filepath"
 
@@ -100,8 +101,21 @@ func Restore(o RestoreOptions) error {
 	log.Println("Getting current schema")
 	_, sum, err := DescribeKeyspaceSchema(k8sClient, o.Namespace, existingPods[0], o.Container, o.Keyspace)
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		if o.Schema == "" {
+			return err
+		}
+		log.Println("Schema not found, restoring schema", o.Schema)
+		sum, err = RestoreKeyspaceSchema(srcClient, k8sClient, srcPrefix, srcBasePath, o.Namespace, existingPods[0], o.Container, o.Keyspace, o.Schema, o.Parallel, o.BufferSize)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		log.Println("Restored schema:", sum)
+	}
+
+	if o.Schema != "" && sum != o.Schema {
+		return fmt.Errorf("specified schema %s is not the same as found schema %s", o.Schema, sum)
 	}
+
 	log.Println("Found schema:", sum)
 
 	log.Println("Calculating paths. This may take a while...")
diff --git a/pkg/cain/cqlsh.go b/pkg/cain/cqlsh.go
index 853f9f1..71ee095 100644
--- a/pkg/cain/cqlsh.go
+++ b/pkg/cain/cqlsh.go
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ func DescribeKeyspaceSchema(iK8sClient interface{}, namespace, pod, container, k
 	command := []string{fmt.Sprintf("DESC %s;", keyspace)}
 	schema, err := Cqlsh(iK8sClient, namespace, pod, container, command)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, "", fmt.Errorf("Could not describe schema. make sure a schema exists for keyspace \"%s\". %s", keyspace, err)
+		return nil, "", fmt.Errorf("Could not describe schema. make sure a schema exists for keyspace \"%s\" or restore it using \"--schema\". %s", keyspace, err)
 	}
 	h := sha256.New()
 	h.Write(schema)
@@ -49,6 +49,24 @@ func DescribeKeyspaceSchema(iK8sClient interface{}, namespace, pod, container, k
 	return schema, sum, nil
 }
 
+// RestoreKeyspaceSchema restores a keyspace schema
+func RestoreKeyspaceSchema(srcClient, iK8sClient interface{}, srcPrefix, srcPath, namespace, pod, container, keyspace, schema string, parallel int, bufferSize float64) (string, error) {
+	schemaTmpFile := fmt.Sprintf("/tmp/%s/schema.cql", keyspace)
+	fromTo := skbn.FromToPair{
+		FromPath: filepath.Join(srcPath, keyspace, schema, "schema.cql"),
+		ToPath:   filepath.Join(namespace, pod, container, schemaTmpFile),
+	}
+	if err := skbn.PerformCopy(srcClient, iK8sClient, srcPrefix, "k8s", []skbn.FromToPair{fromTo}, parallel, bufferSize); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	if _, err := CqlshF(iK8sClient, namespace, pod, container, schemaTmpFile); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	_, sum, err := DescribeKeyspaceSchema(iK8sClient, namespace, pod, container, keyspace)
+
+	return sum, err
+}
+
 // TruncateTables truncates the provided tables in all pods
 func TruncateTables(iK8sClient interface{}, namespace, container, keyspace string, pods, tables, materializedViews []string) {
 	bwgSize := len(pods)
@@ -123,6 +141,24 @@ func Cqlsh(iK8sClient interface{}, namespace, pod, container string, command []s
 	return removeWarning(stdout.Bytes()), nil
 }
 
+// CqlshF executes cqlsh -f file in a given pod
+func CqlshF(iK8sClient interface{}, namespace, pod, container string, file string) ([]byte, error) {
+	k8sClient := iK8sClient.(*skbn.K8sClient)
+
+	command := []string{"cqlsh", "-f", file}
+	stdout := new(bytes.Buffer)
+	stderr, err := skbn.Exec(*k8sClient, namespace, pod, container, command, nil, stdout)
+
+	if len(stderr) != 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("STDERR: " + (string)(stderr))
+	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	return removeWarning(stdout.Bytes()), nil
+}
+
 func removeWarning(b []byte) []byte {
 	const warning = "Warning: Cannot create directory at `/home/cassandra/.cassandra`. Command history will not be saved."
 	return []byte(strings.Replace((string)(b), warning, "", 1))