diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
index a33a00e..b812b4d 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd.pm
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@ sub TRACE_LEVEL { $LogLevel }
 
 sub version { $VERSION };
 
-$Qpsmtpd::_hooks = {};
-
 sub init_logger {
     my $self = shift;
     # Get the loglevel - we localise loglevel to zero while we do this
@@ -116,6 +114,9 @@ sub _config_from_file {
 
 sub load_plugins {
   my $self = shift;
+  
+  $self->{hooks} ||= {};
+  
   my @plugins = $self->config('plugins');
 
   my ($name) = ($0 =~ m!(.*?)/([^/]+)$!);
@@ -206,20 +207,24 @@ sub _load_plugins {
     eval $eval;
     die "eval $@" if $@;
 
-    my $plug = $package->new(qpsmtpd => $self);
-    $plug->register($self, @args);
+    my $plug = $package->new();
+    $plug->_register($self, @args);
 
   }
 }
 
+sub transaction {
+    return {}; # base class implements empty transaction
+}
+
 sub run_hooks {
   my ($self, $hook) = (shift, shift);
-  $self->{_hooks} = $Qpsmtpd::_hooks;
-  if ($self->{_hooks}->{$hook}) {
+  my $hooks = $self->{hooks};
+  if ($hooks->{$hook}) {
     my @r;
-    for my $code (@{$self->{_hooks}->{$hook}}) {
+    for my $code (@{$hooks->{$hook}}) {
       $self->log(LOGINFO, "running plugin ", $code->{name});
-      eval { (@r) = $code->{code}->($self, $self->can('transaction') ? $self->transaction : {}, @_); };
+      eval { (@r) = $code->{code}->($self, $self->transaction, @_); };
       $@ and $self->log(LOGCRIT, "FATAL PLUGIN ERROR: ", $@) and next;
       !defined $r[0] 
 	  and $self->log(LOGERROR, "plugin ".$code->{name}
@@ -245,10 +250,7 @@ sub _register_hook {
   my $self = shift;
   my ($hook, $code, $unshift) = @_;
 
-  #my $plugin = shift;  # see comment in Plugin.pm:register_hook
-
-  $self->{_hooks} = $Qpsmtpd::_hooks;
-  my $hooks = $self->{_hooks};
+  my $hooks = $self->{hooks};
   if ($unshift) {
     unshift @{$hooks->{$hook}}, $code;
   }
diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Plugin.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Plugin.pm
index 597803b..3d26523 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd/Plugin.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd/Plugin.pm
@@ -10,8 +10,7 @@ my %hooks = map { $_ => 1 } qw(
 sub new {
   my $proto = shift;
   my $class = ref($proto) || $proto;
-  my %args = @_;
-  bless ({ _qp => $args{qpsmtpd} }, $class);
+  bless ({}, $class);
 }
 
 sub register_hook {
@@ -28,6 +27,13 @@ sub register_hook {
 			     );
 }
 
+sub _register {
+  my $self = shift;
+  my $qp = shift;
+  local $self->{_qp} = $qp;
+  $self->register($qp, @_);
+}
+
 sub qp {
   shift->{_qp};
 }
@@ -42,4 +48,8 @@ sub transaction {
   shift->qp->transaction;
 }
 
+sub connection {
+  shift->qp->connection;
+}
+
 1;
diff --git a/lib/Qpsmtpd/SMTP.pm b/lib/Qpsmtpd/SMTP.pm
index 0a24bc2..57d8c25 100644
--- a/lib/Qpsmtpd/SMTP.pm
+++ b/lib/Qpsmtpd/SMTP.pm
@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@ sub ehlo {
 
     # Check for possible AUTH mechanisms
     my %auth_mechanisms;
-HOOK: foreach my $hook ( keys %{$self->{_hooks}} ) {
+HOOK: foreach my $hook ( keys %{$self->{hooks}} ) {
         if ( $hook =~ m/^auth-?(.+)?$/ ) {
             if ( defined $1 ) {
                 $auth_mechanisms{uc($1)} = 1;