OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the clinical and pathological response of women with stage II-IIIB primary breast cancer to preoperative high dose chemotherapy with sequential doxorubicin and docetaxel. II. Determine the safety and toxicity of this regimen in these patients. III. Determine the rate of breast conservation surgery in these patients on this regimen. IV. Determine the clinical response of these patients to docetaxel after 3 courses of doxorubicin. V. Correlate any circulating tumor cells shed at time of surgery with clinical response and pathological findings in these patients. VI. Determine whether tumor response correlates with HER2/neu expression of the primary tumor.