diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+0.4.5 - 110414
+* added ability to load files specified as command line arguments
+
 0.4.4 - 110413
 * got rid of impredicative types (using unsafeCoerce...)
 * cleaned up warnings
diff --git a/hp2any-manager.cabal b/hp2any-manager.cabal
--- a/hp2any-manager.cabal
+++ b/hp2any-manager.cabal
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 Name:          hp2any-manager
-Version:       0.4.4
+Version:       0.4.5
 Cabal-Version: >= 1.2
 Synopsis:      A utility to visualise and compare heap profiles.
 Category:      profiling, development, utils
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 Executable hp2any-manager
   HS-Source-Dirs: src
   Main-IS:        Manager.hs
-  Build-Depends:  base >= 4 && < 5, containers, array, filepath, time,
+  Build-Depends:  base >= 4 && < 5, containers, array, filepath, directory, time,
                   glib, gtk, gtkglext, glade, cairo, OpenGL,
                   bytestring, hp2any-core, hp2any-graph
   GHC-Options:    -Wall -O2
diff --git a/src/Manager.hs b/src/Manager.hs
--- a/src/Manager.hs
+++ b/src/Manager.hs
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@
 import Profiling.Heap.Read
 import Profiling.Heap.Types
 import Profiling.Heap.Stats
+import System.Directory
+import System.Environment
 import System.FilePath
 --import System.Glib.Types
 import System.IO.Unsafe
@@ -616,7 +618,8 @@
 
 loadHpFiles :: VBox -> [FilePath] -> IO ()
 loadHpFiles column hpFiles = do
-  let numFiles = length hpFiles
+  hpFiles' <- filterM doesFileExist hpFiles
+  let numFiles = length hpFiles'
 
   when (numFiles > 0) $ do
     cancelled <- newIORef False
@@ -625,7 +628,7 @@
     widgetShowAll progWin
 
     -- Load the files one by one
-    forM_ (zip hpFiles [1..]) $ \(name,num) -> withCancelled $ \c -> unless c $ do
+    forM_ (zip hpFiles' [1..]) $ \(name,num) -> withCancelled $ \c -> unless c $ do
       progString $ takeFileName name ++ " (" ++ show (num :: Int) ++ "/" ++ show numFiles ++ ")"
       refresh
 
@@ -701,4 +704,6 @@
     widgetShowAll newColumn
 
   widgetShowAll mainWindow
+  loadHpFiles startColumn =<< getArgs
+
   mainGUI