diff --git a/src/indexnotation/binarytree.jl b/src/indexnotation/binarytree.jl
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9e6d2526
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/indexnotation/binarytree.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+struct BinaryTreeNode
+    left
+    right
+end
+
+Base.show(io::IO, blk::BinaryTreeNode) = show(io, "plain/text", blk)
+function Base.show(io::IO, ::MIME"plain/text", blk::BinaryTreeNode)
+    print(io, "Contraction Tree: ")
+    print_tree(io, blk)
+end
+
+function print_tree(io::IO, blk::BinaryTreeNode, print_level=0)
+    print(io, "(")
+    print_tree(io, blk.left, print_level+1)
+    print(io, " ↔ ")
+    print_tree(io, blk.right, print_level+1)
+    print(io, ")")
+end
+
+function print_tree(io::IO, blk, print_level=0)
+    print(io, blk)
+end
+
+Base.getindex(t::BinaryTreeNode, i::Int) = i==1 ? t.left : (i==2 ? t.right : throw(BoundsError(t, i)))
+Base.iterate(t::BinaryTreeNode, args...) = iterate((t.left, t.right), args...)
diff --git a/src/indexnotation/optimaltree.jl b/src/indexnotation/optimaltree.jl
index 5992d400..82a20aa3 100644
--- a/src/indexnotation/optimaltree.jl
+++ b/src/indexnotation/optimaltree.jl
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+include("binarytree.jl")
+
 function optimaltree(network, optdata::Dict; verbose::Bool = false)
     numtensors = length(network)
     allindices = unique(vcat(network...))
@@ -165,7 +167,7 @@ function _optimaltree(::Type{T}, network, allindices, allcosts::Vector{S}, initi
                                 if cost <= get(costdict[n], s, currentcost)
                                     costdict[n][s] = cost
                                     indexdict[n][s] = _setdiff(_union(ind1,ind2), cind)
-                                    treedict[n][s] = (treedict[k][s1], treedict[n-k][s2])
+                                    treedict[n][s] = BinaryTreeNode(treedict[k][s1], treedict[n-k][s2])
                                 elseif currentcost < cost < nextcost
                                     nextcost = cost
                                 end
@@ -192,7 +194,7 @@ function _optimaltree(::Type{T}, network, allindices, allcosts::Vector{S}, initi
                                     if cost <= get(costdict[n], s, currentcost)
                                         costdict[n][s] = cost
                                         indexdict[n][s] = _setdiff(_union(ind1,ind2), cind)
-                                        treedict[n][s] = (treedict[k][s1], treedict[k][s2])
+                                        treedict[n][s] = BinaryTreeNode(treedict[k][s1], treedict[k][s2])
                                     elseif currentcost < cost < nextcost
                                         nextcost = cost
                                     end
@@ -226,7 +228,7 @@ function _optimaltree(::Type{T}, network, allindices, allcosts::Vector{S}, initi
     cost = costlist[p[1]]
     ind = indexlist[p[1]]
     for c = 2:numcomponent
-        tree = (tree, treelist[p[c]])
+        tree = BinaryTreeNode(tree, treelist[p[c]])
         cost = addcost(cost, costlist[p[c]], computecost(allcosts, ind, indexlist[p[c]]))
         ind = _union(ind, indexlist[p[c]])
     end
diff --git a/test/tensoropt.jl b/test/tensoropt.jl
index 2a4e5833..6cadd0e1 100644
--- a/test/tensoropt.jl
+++ b/test/tensoropt.jl
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+using TensorOperations, Test
+using TensorOperations: BinaryTreeNode
+
 @testset "Optimal contraction order" begin
     _,cost = @optimalcontractiontree A[-1,1,2,3]*B[2,4,5,6]*C[1,5,7,-3]*D[3,8,4,9]*
                                     E[6,9,7,10]*F[-2,8,11,12]*G[10,11,12,-4]
@@ -22,3 +25,10 @@
                                     aa[89,90,45,46,51,52,57,58,59,-1,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71]
     @test cost == TensorOperations.Poly{:χ,Int}([0,0,0,0,0,0,0,4,4,0,0,0,1,1,1,0,1,0,0,0,3,0,3,2,0,2,4])
 end
+
+@testset "BinaryTree" begin
+    t = BinaryTreeNode(BinaryTreeNode(3, 2), 4)
+    l, r = t
+    @test l == BinaryTreeNode(3, 2) == t[1]
+    @test r == 4 == t[2]
+end