diff --git a/src/calibre/ebooks/docx/styles.py b/src/calibre/ebooks/docx/styles.py
index 6d41715d6d..0b77ff5353 100644
--- a/src/calibre/ebooks/docx/styles.py
+++ b/src/calibre/ebooks/docx/styles.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ from __future__ import (unicode_literals, division, absolute_import,
 __license__ = 'GPL v3'
 __copyright__ = '2013, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>'
 
+import textwrap
 from collections import OrderedDict, Counter
 
 from calibre.ebooks.docx.block_styles import ParagraphStyle, inherit
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@ class Style(object):
         self.based_on = get(based_on[0], 'w:val') if based_on else None
         if self.style_type == 'numbering':
             self.based_on = None
+        self.is_default = get(elem, 'w:default') in {'1', 'on', 'true'}
 
         self.paragraph_style = self.character_style = None
 
@@ -74,6 +76,7 @@ class Styles(object):
         self.run_cache = {}
         self.classes = {}
         self.counter = Counter()
+        self.default_styles = {}
 
     def __iter__(self):
         for s in self.id_map.itervalues():
@@ -93,6 +96,8 @@ class Styles(object):
             s = Style(s)
             if s.style_id:
                 self.id_map[s.style_id] = s
+            if s.is_default:
+                self.default_styles[s.style_type] = s
 
         self.default_paragraph_style = self.default_character_style = None
 
@@ -168,6 +173,8 @@ class Styles(object):
             parent_styles = []
             if self.default_paragraph_style is not None:
                 parent_styles.append(self.default_paragraph_style)
+
+            default_para = self.default_styles.get('paragraph', None)
             if direct_formatting.linked_style is not None:
                 ls = self.get(direct_formatting.linked_style)
                 if ls is not None:
@@ -177,6 +184,11 @@ class Styles(object):
                         parent_styles.append(ps)
                     if ls.character_style is not None:
                         self.para_char_cache[p] = ls.character_style
+            elif default_para is not None:
+                if default_para.paragraph_style is not None:
+                    parent_styles.append(default_para.paragraph_style)
+                if default_para.character_style is not None:
+                    self.para_char_cache[p] = default_para.character_style
 
             for attr in ans.all_properties:
                 setattr(ans, attr, self.para_val(parent_styles, direct_formatting, attr))
@@ -199,6 +211,7 @@ class Styles(object):
                 direct_formatting = RunStyle()
 
             parent_styles = []
+            default_char = self.default_styles.get('character', None)
             if self.default_character_style is not None:
                 parent_styles.append(self.default_character_style)
             pstyle = self.para_char_cache.get(p, None)
@@ -208,6 +221,8 @@ class Styles(object):
                 ls = self.get(direct_formatting.linked_style).character_style
                 if ls is not None:
                     parent_styles.append(ls)
+            elif default_char is not None and default_char.character_style is not None:
+                parent_styles.append(default_char.character_style)
 
             for attr in ans.all_properties:
                 setattr(ans, attr, self.run_val(parent_styles, direct_formatting, attr))
@@ -244,10 +259,15 @@ class Styles(object):
         return self.classes.get(h, (None, None))[0]
 
     def generate_css(self):
+        prefix = textwrap.dedent(
+            '''\
+            p { margin: 0; padding: 0; text-indent: 1.5em }
+            ''')
+
         ans = []
         for (cls, css) in sorted(self.classes.itervalues(), key=lambda x:x[0]):
             b = ('\t%s: %s;' % (k, v) for k, v in css.iteritems())
             b = '\n'.join(b)
             ans.append('.%s {\n%s\n}\n' % (cls, b.rstrip(';')))
-        return '\n'.join(ans)
+        return prefix + '\n' + '\n'.join(ans)