  Motivated by the need for greater understanding of systems that involve
interfaces between a nematic liquid crystal, a solid substrate, and a passive
gas that includes nematic--substrate--gas three-phase contact lines, we analyse
a two-dimensional static ridge of nematic resting on a solid substrate in an
atmosphere of passive gas. Specifically, we obtain the first complete
theoretical description for this system, including nematic Young and
Young--Laplace equations, and then, under the assumption that anchoring
breaking occurs in regions adjacent to the contact lines, we use the nematic
Young equations to determine the continuous and discontinuous transitions that
occur between the equilibrium states of complete wetting, partial wetting, and
complete dewetting. In particular, in addition to continuous transitions
analogous to those that occur in the classical case of an isotropic liquid, we
find a variety of discontinuous transitions, as well as contact-angle
hysteresis, and regions of parameter space in which there exist multiple
partial wetting states that do not occur in the classical case.
