The thermal behavior of poly(para-2,5-didecyl-p-phenylene) has been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and real time X-ray diffraction. Poly(para-2,5-didecyl-p-phenylene) is a semicrystalline material that crystallizes in a layered structure. The system exhibits two thermal transitions in the investigated temperature range. The first one, occurring at lower temperatures, provokes a reduction of the layered spacing accompanied by an appreciable disordering of the lateral side chains. Above the first transition the material is shearable, highly viscous, and birefringent. Thus, we have associated this transition to the formation of a layered mesophase. The higher temperature transition exhibits a twofold endothermic DSC peak and is characterized by the disappearance of X-ray diffracted intensity. At temperatures above the second transition the system presents the characteristics of an isotropic melt. Consequently, we have associated this transition with the complete disordering of the polymeric backbones. By following an appropriate thermal treatment it has been shown that the twofold shape of the endotherm characterizing the higher temperature transition can be changed into a single endotherm. This effect has been interpreted as being due to the kinetics of main-chain ordering. This ordering seems to proceed by the initial growth of domains with a high level of order followed by the subsequent increase of these domains through the inclusion of less ordered material.