A 2001 video release promotes the film as "The East German Grease" although perhaps it is closer in concept to the 1963 British movie Summer Holiday which starred Cliff Richard.

Initially trying to ignore and avoid each other, the two groups find themselves billeted close by, relaxing together, enjoying each other's company and the resulting relationships that develop.

The movie deals with the conflicts of each relationship in the group by singing and dancing their way through each situation including a brief encounter with the VoPo's - the police.

[2] A 2000 review in Shock Cinema magazine said that the film "proves that East Germany used to make teen-musical exploitation flicks that were just as vapid as American drive-in fare", and that it was "goofy, colorful and best enjoyed in brief, easy-to-digest chunks".

[3] In a 2016 poll by newspaper Freie Presse, Heißer Sommer was voted by readers as the best East German film.