diff --git a/src/textual/content.py b/src/textual/content.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c098d27f87
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/textual/content.py
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+"""
+Content is Textual's equivalent to Rich's Text object, with support for transparency.
+
+The interface is (will be) similar, with the major difference that is *immutable*.
+This will make some operations slower, but dramatically improve cache-ability.
+
+TBD: Is this a public facing API or an internal one?
+
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from functools import lru_cache
+from typing import NamedTuple
+
+from textual._cells import cell_len
+from textual.color import TRANSPARENT, Color
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class Style:
+    """Represent a content style (color and other attributes)."""
+
+    background: Color = TRANSPARENT
+    foreground: Color = TRANSPARENT
+    bold: bool | None = None
+    italic: bool | None = None
+    underline: bool | None = None
+    strike: bool | None = None
+    link: str | None = None
+    meta: bytes | None = None
+
+    @lru_cache(maxsize=1024)
+    def __add__(self, other: object) -> Style:
+        if not isinstance(other, Style):
+            return NotImplemented
+        new_style = Style(
+            self.background + other.background,
+            self.foreground + other.foreground,
+            self.bold if other.bold is None else other.bold,
+            self.italic if other.italic is None else other.italic,
+            self.underline if other.underline is None else other.underline,
+            self.strike if other.strike is None else other.strike,
+            self.link if other.link is None else other.link,
+            self.meta if other.meta is None else other.meta,
+        )
+        return new_style
+
+
+class Span(NamedTuple):
+    """A style applied to a range of character offsets."""
+
+    start: int
+    end: int
+    style: Style
+
+
+class Content:
+    """Text content with marked up spans.
+
+    This object can be considered immutable, although it might update its internal state
+    in a way that is consistent with immutability.
+
+    """
+
+    def __init__(
+        self, text: str, spans: list[Span] | None = None, cell_length: int | None = None
+    ) -> None:
+        self._text: str = text
+        self._spans: list[Span] = [] if spans is None else spans
+        self._cell_length = cell_length
+
+    def __len__(self) -> int:
+        return len(self.plain)
+
+    def __bool__(self) -> bool:
+        return self._text == []
+
+    def __hash__(self) -> int:
+        return hash(self._text)
+
+    @property
+    def cell_length(self) -> int:
+        """The cell length of the content."""
+        if self._cell_length is None:
+            self._cell_length = cell_len(self.plain)
+        return self._cell_length
+
+    @property
+    def plain(self) -> str:
+        """Get the text as a single string."""
+        return self._text
+
+    def stylize(self, style: Style, start: int = 0, end: int | None = None) -> Content:
+        """Apply a style to the text, or a portion of the text.
+
+        Args:
+            style (Union[str, Style]): Style instance or style definition to apply.
+            start (int): Start offset (negative indexing is supported). Defaults to 0.
+            end (Optional[int], optional): End offset (negative indexing is supported), or None for end of text. Defaults to None.
+        """
+        length = len(self)
+        if start < 0:
+            start = length + start
+        if end is None:
+            end = length
+        if end < 0:
+            end = length + end
+        if start >= length or end <= start:
+            # Span not in text or not valid
+            return self
+        return Content(
+            self.plain,
+            [*self._spans, Span(start, length if length < end else end, style)],
+        )
+
+    def __add__(self, other: object) -> Content:
+        if isinstance(other, str):
+            return Content(self._text + other, self._spans)
+        if isinstance(other, Content):
+            offset = len(self.plain)
+            content = Content(
+                self.plain + other.plain,
+                [
+                    *self._spans,
+                    *[
+                        Span(start + offset, end + offset, style)
+                        for start, end, style in other._spans
+                    ],
+                ],
+            )
+            return content
+        return NotImplemented