This is a small example on how to retrieve a gene description based on a RefSeq id.
#!/usr/bin/python
from Bio import Entrez
Entrez.email = 'A.N.Other@example.com'
def get_gene_info(refseq_id):
"""
Queries the ncbi refseq database for the gene summary
"""
handle = Entrez.esearch(db="gene", term=refseq_id)
record = Entrez.read(handle)
gene_id = record['IdList'][0]
handle = Entrez.esummary(db="gene", id=gene_id)
record = Entrez.read(handle)
return record[u'DocumentSummarySet']["DocumentSummary"][0]["Summary"]
get_gene_info("NM_007313")