diff --git a/mitmproxy/options.py b/mitmproxy/options.py
index 058ea9e4e..59d44a5d1 100644
--- a/mitmproxy/options.py
+++ b/mitmproxy/options.py
@@ -438,7 +438,13 @@ class Options(optmanager.OptManager):
         # Dump options
         self.add_option(
             "flow_detail", int, 1,
-            "Flow detail display level."
+            """
+            The display detail level for flows in mitmdump: 0 (almost quiet) to 3 (very verbose).
+              0: shortened request URL, response status code, WebSocket and TCP message notifications.
+              1: full request URL with response status code
+              2: 1 + HTTP headers
+              3: 2 + full response content, content of WebSocket and TCP messages.
+            """
         )
 
         self.update(**kwargs)