diff --git a/DESCRIPTION b/DESCRIPTION
index 1ba7c8d94..672803348 100644
--- a/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/DESCRIPTION
@@ -26,12 +26,14 @@ Suggests:
     bit64,
     callr,
     data.table,
+    ggplot2,
     knitr,
     lubridate,
     nanoarrow,
     nycflights13,
     patrick,
     pillar,
+    rlang,
     rmarkdown,
     testthat (>= 3.0.0),
     tibble,
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 8a9ac5eee..01481c615 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 - New method `$write_csv()` for `DataFrame` (#414).
 - New method `$sink_csv()` for `LazyFrame` (#432).
 - New method `$dt$time()` to extract the time from a `datetime` variable (#428).
+- Method `$profile()` gains optimization arguments and plot-related arguments (#429).
 - New method `pl$read_parquet()` that is a shortcut for `pl$scan_parquet()$collect()` (#434).
 - Rename `$str$str_explode()` to `$str$explode()` (#436).
 - New argument `eager` of `LazyFrame$set_optimization_toggle()` (#439).
diff --git a/R/lazyframe__lazy.R b/R/lazyframe__lazy.R
index 5a3d856f7..da5cb4844 100644
--- a/R/lazyframe__lazy.R
+++ b/R/lazyframe__lazy.R
@@ -1066,11 +1066,11 @@ LazyFrame_sort = function(
 #' table. They must have the same length.
 #' @param strategy Strategy for where to find match:
 #' * "backward" (default): search for the last row in the right table whose `on`
-#'   key is less than or equal to the left’s key.
+#'   key is less than or equal to the left key.
 #' * "forward": search for the first row in the right table whose `on` key is
-#'   greater than or equal to the left’s key.
+#'   greater than or equal to the left key.
 #' * "nearest": search for the last row in the right table whose value is nearest
-#'   to the left’s key. String keys are not currently supported for a nearest
+#'   to the left key. String keys are not currently supported for a nearest
 #'   search.
 #' @param tolerance
 #' Numeric tolerance. By setting this the join will only be done if the near
@@ -1360,11 +1360,18 @@ LazyFrame_fetch = function(
 #' @description This will run the query and return a list containing the
 #' materialized DataFrame and a DataFrame that contains profiling information
 #' of each node that is executed.
+#'
+#' @inheritParams LazyFrame_collect
+#' @param show_plot Show a Gantt chart of the profiling result
+#' @param truncate_nodes Truncate the label lengths in the Gantt chart to this
+#' number of characters. If `0` (default), do not truncate.
+#'
 #' @details The units of the timings are microseconds.
 #'
 #' @keywords LazyFrame
 #' @return List of two `DataFrame`s: one with the collected result, the other
-#' with the timings of each step.
+#' with the timings of each step. If `show_graph = TRUE`, then the plot is
+#' also stored in the list.
 #' @seealso
 #'  - [`$collect()`][LazyFrame_collect] - regular collect.
 #'  - [`$fetch()`][LazyFrame_fetch] - fast limited query check
@@ -1400,8 +1407,59 @@ LazyFrame_fetch = function(
 #'   group_by("Species", maintain_order = TRUE)$
 #'   agg(pl$col(pl$Float64)$apply(r_func))$
 #'   profile()
-LazyFrame_profile = function() {
-  .pr$LazyFrame$profile(self) |> unwrap("in $profile()")
+LazyFrame_profile = function(
+  type_coercion = TRUE,
+  predicate_pushdown = TRUE,
+  projection_pushdown = TRUE,
+  simplify_expression = TRUE,
+  slice_pushdown = TRUE,
+  comm_subplan_elim = TRUE,
+  comm_subexpr_elim = TRUE,
+  streaming = FALSE,
+  no_optimization = FALSE,
+  inherit_optimization = FALSE,
+  collect_in_background = FALSE,
+  show_plot = FALSE,
+  truncate_nodes = 0) {
+
+  if (isTRUE(no_optimization)) {
+    predicate_pushdown = FALSE
+    projection_pushdown = FALSE
+    slice_pushdown = FALSE
+    comm_subplan_elim = FALSE
+    comm_subexpr_elim = FALSE
+  }
+
+  if (isTRUE(streaming)) {
+    comm_subplan_elim = FALSE
+  }
+
+  lf = self
+
+  if (isFALSE(inherit_optimization)) {
+    lf = self$set_optimization_toggle(
+      type_coercion,
+      predicate_pushdown,
+      projection_pushdown,
+      simplify_expression,
+      slice_pushdown,
+      comm_subplan_elim,
+      comm_subexpr_elim,
+      streaming
+    ) |> unwrap("in $profile():")
+  }
+
+  out = lf |>
+    .pr$LazyFrame$profile() |>
+    unwrap("in $profile()")
+
+  if (isTRUE(show_plot)) {
+    out[["plot"]] = make_profile_plot(out, truncate_nodes) |>
+      result() |>
+      unwrap("in $profile()")
+  }
+
+  out
 }
 
 #' @title Explode columns containing a list of values
diff --git a/R/utils.R b/R/utils.R
index 46b3c1dd1..f4beb14e4 100644
--- a/R/utils.R
+++ b/R/utils.R
@@ -620,3 +620,61 @@ is_bool = function(x) {
 dtypes_are_struct = function(dtypes) {
   sapply(dtypes, \(dt) pl$same_outer_dt(dt, pl$Struct()))
 }
+
+make_profile_plot = function(data, truncate_nodes) {
+  if (!requireNamespace("ggplot2", quietly = TRUE)) {
+    stop('The package "ggplot2" is required.')
+  }
+  timings = data$profile$to_data_frame()
+  timings$node = factor(timings$node, levels = unique(timings$node))
+  total_timing = max(timings$end)
+  if (total_timing > 10000000) {
+    unit = "s"
+    total_timing = paste0(total_timing/1000000, "s")
+    timings$start = timings$start / 1000000
+    timings$end = timings$end / 1000000
+  } else if (total_timing > 10000) {
+    unit = "ms"
+    total_timing = paste0(total_timing/1000, "ms")
+    timings$start = timings$start / 1000
+    timings$end = timings$end / 1000
+  } else {
+    unit = "\U00B5s"
+    total_timing = paste0(total_timing, "\U00B5s")
+  }
+
+  # for some reason, there's an error if I use rlang::.data directly in aes()
+  .data = rlang::.data
+
+  plot = ggplot2::ggplot(
+    timings,
+    ggplot2::aes(x = .data[["start"]], xend = .data[["end"]],
+                 y = .data[["node"]], yend = .data[["node"]])) +
+    ggplot2::geom_segment(linewidth = 6) +
+    ggplot2::xlab(
+      paste0("Node duration in ", unit, ". Total duration: ", total_timing)
+    ) +
+    ggplot2::ylab(NULL) +
+    ggplot2::theme(
+      axis.text = ggplot2::element_text(size = 12)
+    )
+
+  if (truncate_nodes > 0) {
+    plot = plot +
+      ggplot2::scale_y_discrete(
+        labels = rev(paste0(strtrim(timings$node, truncate_nodes), "...")),
+        limits = rev
+      )
+  } else {
+    plot = plot +
+      ggplot2::scale_y_discrete(
+        limits = rev
+      )
+  }
+
+  # do not show the plot if we're running testthat
+  if (!identical(Sys.getenv("TESTTHAT"), "true")) {
+    print(plot)
+  }
+  plot
+}
diff --git a/man/DataFrame_join_asof.Rd b/man/DataFrame_join_asof.Rd
index 12486bc36..0338e41eb 100644
--- a/man/DataFrame_join_asof.Rd
+++ b/man/DataFrame_join_asof.Rd
@@ -43,11 +43,11 @@ tables.}
 \item{strategy}{Strategy for where to find match:
 \itemize{
 \item "backward" (default): search for the last row in the right table whose \code{on}
-key is less than or equal to the left’s key.
+key is less than or equal to the left key.
 \item "forward": search for the first row in the right table whose \code{on} key is
-greater than or equal to the left’s key.
+greater than or equal to the left key.
 \item "nearest": search for the last row in the right table whose value is nearest
-to the left’s key. String keys are not currently supported for a nearest
+to the left key. String keys are not currently supported for a nearest
 search.
 }}
 
diff --git a/man/LazyFrame_join_asof.Rd b/man/LazyFrame_join_asof.Rd
index ad352e49b..9281fa324 100644
--- a/man/LazyFrame_join_asof.Rd
+++ b/man/LazyFrame_join_asof.Rd
@@ -43,11 +43,11 @@ tables.}
 \item{strategy}{Strategy for where to find match:
 \itemize{
 \item "backward" (default): search for the last row in the right table whose \code{on}
-key is less than or equal to the left’s key.
+key is less than or equal to the left key.
 \item "forward": search for the first row in the right table whose \code{on} key is
-greater than or equal to the left’s key.
+greater than or equal to the left key.
 \item "nearest": search for the last row in the right table whose value is nearest
-to the left’s key. String keys are not currently supported for a nearest
+to the left key. String keys are not currently supported for a nearest
 search.
 }}
 
diff --git a/man/LazyFrame_profile.Rd b/man/LazyFrame_profile.Rd
index 30705cb1e..908d04ac4 100644
--- a/man/LazyFrame_profile.Rd
+++ b/man/LazyFrame_profile.Rd
@@ -4,11 +4,67 @@
 \alias{LazyFrame_profile}
 \title{Collect and profile a lazy query.}
 \usage{
-LazyFrame_profile()
+LazyFrame_profile(
+  type_coercion = TRUE,
+  predicate_pushdown = TRUE,
+  projection_pushdown = TRUE,
+  simplify_expression = TRUE,
+  slice_pushdown = TRUE,
+  comm_subplan_elim = TRUE,
+  comm_subexpr_elim = TRUE,
+  streaming = FALSE,
+  no_optimization = FALSE,
+  inherit_optimization = FALSE,
+  collect_in_background = FALSE,
+  show_plot = FALSE,
+  truncate_nodes = 0
+)
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{type_coercion}{Boolean. Coerce types such that operations succeed and
+run on minimal required memory.}
+
+\item{predicate_pushdown}{Boolean. Applies filters as early as possible at
+scan level.}
+
+\item{projection_pushdown}{Boolean. Select only the columns that are needed
+at the scan level.}
+
+\item{simplify_expression}{Boolean. Various optimizations, such as constant
+folding and replacing expensive operations with faster alternatives.}
+
+\item{slice_pushdown}{Boolean. Only load the required slice from the scan
+level. Don't materialize sliced outputs (e.g. \code{join$head(10)}).}
+
+\item{comm_subplan_elim}{Boolean. Will try to cache branching subplans that
+occur on self-joins or unions.}
+
+\item{comm_subexpr_elim}{Boolean. Common subexpressions will be cached and
+reused.}
+
+\item{streaming}{Boolean. Run parts of the query in a streaming fashion
+(this is in an alpha state).}
+
+\item{no_optimization}{Boolean. Sets the following parameters to \code{FALSE}:
+\code{predicate_pushdown}, \code{projection_pushdown}, \code{slice_pushdown},
+\code{comm_subplan_elim}, \code{comm_subexpr_elim}.}
+
+\item{inherit_optimization}{Boolean. Use existing optimization settings
+regardless the settings specified in this function call.}
+
+\item{collect_in_background}{Boolean. Detach this query from R session.
+Computation will start in background. Get a handle which later can be converted
+into the resulting DataFrame. Useful in interactive mode to not lock R session.}
+
+\item{show_plot}{Show a Gantt chart of the profiling result}
+
+\item{truncate_nodes}{Truncate the label lengths in the Gantt chart to this
+number of characters. If \code{0} (default), do not truncate.}
 }
 \value{
 List of two \code{DataFrame}s: one with the collected result, the other
-with the timings of each step.
+with the timings of each step. If \code{show_graph = TRUE}, then the plot is
+also stored in the list.
 }
 \description{
 This will run the query and return a list containing the
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-lazy_profile.R b/tests/testthat/test-lazy_profile.R
index 842baf7c1..71cee4dd6 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-lazy_profile.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-lazy_profile.R
@@ -35,3 +35,15 @@ test_that("<LazyFrame>$profile", {
     p1$result$as_data_frame()
   )
 })
+
+
+test_that("profile: show_plot returns a plot in the list of outputs", {
+  skip_if_not_installed("ggplot2")
+  p1 = pl$LazyFrame(iris)$
+    sort("Sepal.Length")$
+    group_by("Species", maintain_order = TRUE)$
+    agg(pl$col(pl$Float64)$first()$add(5)$suffix("_apply"))$
+    profile(show_plot = TRUE)
+
+  expect_length(p1, 3)
+})