diff -Nur epydoc/markup/restructuredtext.py epydoc/markup/restructuredtext.py
--- epydoc/markup/restructuredtext.py
+++ epydoc/markup/restructuredtext.py
@@ -304,10 +304,11 @@
         # Extract the first sentence.
         for child in node:
             if isinstance(child, docutils.nodes.Text):
-                m = self._SUMMARY_RE.match(child.data)
+                data = child.astext()
+                m = self._SUMMARY_RE.match(data)
                 if m:
                     summary_pieces.append(docutils.nodes.Text(m.group(1)))
-                    other = child.data[m.end():]
+                    other = data[m.end():]
                     if other and not other.isspace():
                         self.other_docs = True
                     break
@@ -488,11 +489,11 @@
             # Remove the separating ":", if present
             if (len(fbody[0]) > 0 and
                 isinstance(fbody[0][0], docutils.nodes.Text)):
-                child = fbody[0][0]
-                if child.data[:1] in ':-':
-                    child.data = child.data[1:].lstrip()
-                elif child.data[:2] in (' -', ' :'):
-                    child.data = child.data[2:].lstrip()
+                content = fbody[0][0].astext()
+                if content[:1] in ':-':
+                    fbody[0][0] = docutils.nodes.Text(content[1:].lstrip())
+                elif content[:2] in (' -', ' :'):
+                    fbody[0][0] = docutils.nodes.Text(content[2:].lstrip())
 
             # Wrap the field body, and add a new field
             self._add_field(tagname, arg, fbody)