"Chatham" tells the story of three retired sea captains -- Zebulon "Zeb" Hedge (Carradine), Perez Ryder (Dern), and Jeremiah "Jerry" Burgess (Torn) -- living together in genteel squalor. They scheme to improve their fortunes by having one of them solicit a bride through an ad in a Boston newspaper. The loser of a coin toss must get married and take in the other two as boarders. But upon the arrival of the Nantucket woman (Mariel Hemingway) selected from the applicants, the captains get cold feet.