Jon (writer/director Tom O'Brien) is well past his glory days on the football field and now coping with life as a single man in his small hometown of Fairhaven, Mass. With the decision to give up his day job on the waterfront, dedicating himself to a full-time writing career, he increasingly seeks honesty and purity in life. Via weekly therapy and a burgeoning relationship with a beautiful, empathetic woman, he struggles to uncover what happiness means to him. Enter Jon's oldest friend Dave (Chris Messina), unexpectedly home for his estranged father's funeral. Impulsive, attractive, and often dangerous, Dave is hell-bent on injecting some spontaneity into his old friends' seemingly banal lives. Jon, Dave, and their divorced friend Sam (Rich Sommer) reacquaint themselves after years filled with life-defining experiences, pushing the limits of their friendship and uncovering secrets from the past.
With subtle, moving performances by O'Brien, Messina, Sommer, Sarah Paulson, and Alexie Gilmore, and a visceral sense of place amid the blistering winds of small-town Massachusetts, Fairhaven is an authentic meditation on love, loss, and minor triumphs.
Tom O'Brien has made several short films and directed theater as part of the New York theater company All Seasons, where he met and became friends with actor Chris Messina. Chris and Tom developed the script for Fairhaven over the past six years, including several script sessions in a Tribeca loft.