While there are no causal links to it, Sovietology uses the release of Assa as a benchmark for when Perestroika reached the mass culture, and accordingly, entered its prime phase.

The main plot takes place in the winter of 1980 and tells the story of Alika (Tatyana Drubich), a young nurse who stays in Yalta with her patient and lover Krymov (Stanislav Govorukhin), who is considerably older than she is.

In Yalta Alika meets Bananan (Sergei "Afrika" Bugaev), a young and eccentric underground rock musician, who introduces her to the Soviet counterculture.

Besides the two conventional plot lines, the film is notable for having many experimental scenes which are only loosely related to the plot: Bananan's surreal dreams, "footnotes" with explanations of Russian rock slang, and performances of complete Russian rock songs by Aquarium, Bravo, Soyuz kompozitorov, Yury Chernavsky with Vesyolye Rebyata, and Kino.

[4] The film features cameo appearances by Viktor Tsoi, Yuri Kasparyan, Sergey Ryizhenko, Timur Novikov, Andrey Krisanov and Georgy Guryanov.